John Travolta exhibits real-life experience on ‘The Shepherd’

John Travolta opened up what he thinks about ‘The Shepherd’.

The vintage superstar recently admitted that The Shepherd, a new short film directed by Alfonso Cuarón and slated to debut on Disney+ this winter, initially caught his attention because of his own near-death experience while flying an aircraft on Thanksgiving.

Based on Frederick Forsyth's 1975 book of the same name, Ben Radcliffe's film relates the tale of Freddie Hooke, a young pilot in the Royal Air Force who travels across the North Sea to return home for Christmas.

His de Havilland Vampire aeroplane experiences a complete electrical failure shortly after takeoff, leaving Freddie with little chance of survival. 

Unexpectedly, Travolta's enigmatic character pilot materialises in the sky, prepared to lead the young man to safety.

Instead of spending Thursday night eating a conventional Thanksgiving dinner, Travolta went to the film's small-scale London premiere.

There, he watched The Shepherd for the first time on a large screen before taking part in a Q&A with writer and director Iain Softley.

The actor, who holds a true pilot's licence, spoke briefly about his own close call to death in a plane crash in 1992 during the occasion. He hasn't spoken about the incident in public in nearly 30 years.

“I actually experienced a total electrical failure, not in a Vampire but in a corporate jet over Washington D.C.,” Travolta said.

“So when I read [Forsyth’s] book, it resonated even more because of this experience I had personally had.”

“I knew what it felt like to absolutely think you’re going to die,” said Travolta, who was flying a Gulfstream II from Florida to Maine for Thanksgiving when the incident happened.

“I had two good jet engines but I had no instruments, no electric, nothing. And I thought it was over.”

“And then as if by a miracle, we descended as per the rules to a lower altitude,” he concluded.

“I saw that Washington D.C. monument and identified that Washington National Airport was right next to it and I made a landing just like [Freddie] does in the film.”