Yash Mani

The Backstory Behind Awkward Francesco Totti And John Travolta Photoshoot

Francesco Totti, John Travolta

Footballers being a part of weird photos and photoshoots isn’t a rare sight. Often times people come across some of the most random images which makes them question the reasoning and the story behind that certain picture.

One such image was the one consisting of Roma legend Totti and American actor John Travolta, and here’s the story behind the photoshoot.

In the image, the legendary Italian footballer Francesco Totti could be seen sitting on a couch flaunting a white suit, while Hollywood actor John Travolta “hugs” the footballer from behind. We’re pretty sure this was not the most comfortable image fans would’ve seen in their lives.

Though recently resurfaced online, the picture dates back to 2005, a year when Totti was still in his prime, playing for his beloved club AS Roma. Travolta, by that time, was a well-established American actor of Italian descent.

To put some reasoning behind the image, Sky Italia was still relatively new in Italian television, having been founded in the year 2003 after the merger of TELE+ and Stream TV.

Fast forward to 2005, Sky had recently won the rights to broadcast the much anticipated FIFA World Cup 2006 and were planning to launch the first-ever “MySky Decoder” later that year.

When the time arrived to launch the decoder in November, Sky, predominantly a sports network, struck a deal with arguably one of the best Italian footballers in the world in 2005, Francesco Totti, to promote their launch. To partner with Totti, they also managed to have onboard the famous Italian-origin Hollywood actor John Travolta.

The photoshoots for the launch of MySky Decoder transpired in the month of November 2005. In the photoshoot, Travolta could be seen wearing a Roma kit, representing Totti’s football club, and Totti could be seen wearing the same suit from Saturday Night Fever, the infamous musical starring Travolta. A genius idea indeed.

In another image from the same shoot, Travolta can also be spotted wearing an Italy National Team football jersey. Though there’s no clip to be found, a bunch of rare images from the photoshoot clearly make it look like the two icons of Italy are “wrestling” for the decoder remote. In another click, Travolta can be seen holding a decoder over Totti’s head.

The duo was also featured on the cover page of the famous Italian magazine TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, with the caption “The Strange Couple: What are John Travolta and Francesco Totti up to together?” The magazine later explained the reasoning behind this photoshoot. Fun fact: This edition of the magazine, dating back to the 25th of November, 2005, is still available to purchase on eBay.

Ever since then, the images from this photoshoot are still tossed around the internet time and time again, confusing every viewer who comes across these for the first time. The sight of two icons of their industry awkwardly hugging each other, this picture of the strange duo has to be among the images you must see before you die.