-Stayin' Alive's British Bitch, Daily Star Features? 9/20/83
-Disco Fever Headliners, New York Post, 3/3/83
-Lightening Strikes, The Boston Herald, 7/31/83

Stayin' Alive Superstar Finola Hughes Knows Exactly Why British Girls Make Better Bitches  (Daily Star Features? Sept. 20, 1983)

"Being nasty is totally opposite to the way we are in real life," she said. And the stunning brown-haired beauty... who made bitching an art when she starred with Hollywood heart throb John Travolta... added quote "When I think of the part and the person I am, it just amazes me."

Twenty-three year-old FInola was plucked from relative obscurity to play Travolta's snooty girlfriend in the sensational sequel to "Saturday Night Fever".

Even Travolta himself is amazed how different from a bitch Finola is in real life. "She was impeccably raided," he said. "Quoted to her, 'Kissing before she was 16 was a mortal sin,'" he told reporters. But for Finola, however, that's the secret to playing the part well.

"We really have to work at being nasty," she said. "The trouble is, I'm not normally a shouter in real life and I rarely blow up."

"But Slyvester Stallone, who directs the film, spent a lot of time needling me, trying to get me angry so I could explode like my character has to. He really wanted me to look angry and mean. He'd push me, get me so angry we'd be shouting at each other... and then I'd be ready to do the scene."

She added, "Even when I went home at night, Sly would tell me to shout out loud, to lose my temper and vent my rage on the TV or an armchair. I did it every night, and my neighbours must have thought I was mad. But it worked."

Finola, who is now toying of leaving her native London to move full-time to Hollywood, is convinced that is the reason British girls make better bitches. "We have to work so hard at it," she said. "We always have to think how to be nasty, and consequently, we really give it everything we've got."

"And I think with our accents, which can be a little supercillious, we can really be the people audiences love to hate."

Disco Fever! Headliners (New York Post, March 3, 1983)
Saturday night fever erupted mid-week as superstar John Travolta raised temperatures on the dance floor at Studio 54.

Working up a lather beside him was lithe and lovely Finola Hughes, the 23-year-old British actress who made a name for herself in the London production of "Cats".  It was a real busman's holiday for the smooth-stepping pair.

She is one of Travolta's two female leads in "Staying Alive," a sequel to "Saturday Night Fever" now being filmed in New York.  "They dance a great deal and are romantically involved in the movie," a film spokesman said.

But there were no shots scheduled yesterday morning so the pair, and several crew members made Tuesday a late night out.  At first even paparazzi failed to recognize John, who looked the punk rocker in a leather jacket and sunglasses.  But after a half hour, when John obligingly removed his sunglasses and the eyes gave him away.  The jacket was tossed aside as the sweat poured down the pair and they danced the night away.

The beat went on until 4 a.m. when they left with some friends.

P. S. Despite the heat they generated on the dance floor, John and Finola are "just friends," according to studio sources.

Lightening Strikes/ Hollywood Calls for Finola Hughes for "Staying Alive" by Ivor Davis, Celebrity section of The Boston Herald, July 31, 1983
Finola Hughes thought it was a joke. The London based dancer was told: "Fly to New York tomorrow morning- they want you to meet Sylvester Stallone and John Travolta- maybe star in their new movie."

The 23-year-old brown-haired beauty had small roles in TV films and had danced on stage in the hit musical "Cats" in London, but the idea of starring in a movie opposite Travolta- and directed by Stallone- sounded quite preposterous... a fantasy to say the least.

Twenty-four hours later she discovered it was no joke. She'd met Stallone and Travolta and was signed for Travolta's aloof-girlfriend in "Stayin' Alive."

"Even today I don't believe it's happened," she said, sounding like a youthful Julie Andrews with her ever so proper British accent. "Doing the movie was such frenzy. Working with Sly and John, going back to the relative calm of England- well, it's simply mind-blowing."

Before Hollywood called, Finola (the name's Irish; father Bill is a Cork born, London based taxi driver) was appearing in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical "Song and Dance".

"Sly had been searching everywhere for someone to play Laura and I was as nervous as all hell when I went to read for him. All I had to do was dance, then do a scene with John. He said, 'You have the part.'"

In "Stayin' Alive" she plays the beautiful Broadway dancer Laura (with an English accent) who manages to completely captivate Tony Manero (Travolta) then dumps him because she's ambitious and slightly bitchy.

"Oh yea," admits Finola with a smile, "I'm a terrible bitch to Tony and we have awful rows and screaming matches- as well as tender love scenes. The trouble was I'm not a shouter and in real life I rarely blow up."

Stallone quickly took care of that.  "He was wonderful and supportive in dancing but he spent a lot of time needling me- trying to get me angry so I could explode like my character has to, so I could look and act mean. He'd push me- get me really angry so we'd shout at each other and I'd be ready for a scene. Even when I went home to my apartment in Hollywood after work, Sly would tell me to shout out loud, loose my temper and vent my hostilutt and rage on the door or the TV set or an armchair. And every night I did it. My neighbors must have thought I was mad. But it worked."

But she still says the most traumatic thing was switching from tranquil London to high voltaged New York and Hollywood, "and as a completely unknown 23-year-old actress try to top Travolta in our scenes together."

"John was really very, very shy with me. When we first met we shook hands and he was very sweet and tried to make me feel at ease. He's so sensitive himself and he sounds you out for a long time before he lets you become a friend. He has a great sense of humor but is very complicated- and very intelligent. But he helped me a lot. If a scene didn't work we'd stop and we'd talk it out. Or we'd sit in front of the video analysing it, or viewing a dance number to see what was wrong. The final scene in the film is quite spectacular although one of our most brutal and wildest fight scenes has been cut out. "I'm not complaining," says Finola, "it's not many girls who have Sly Stallone and John Travolta to lean on."