John Travolta has seen his share of headlines recently, most of which he’d no doubt like to get out of. But some of the most recent ones are rather complimentary, despite his aversion to the press of late.

His new film “Savages”–directed by Oliver Stone–opened this weekend and has already garnered some favorable reviews, for both the action-packed storyline and the excellent cast of characters. Travolta plays a corrupt DEA agent who becomes involved with a duo of pot-growers and their girlfriend–played by Blake Lively–who gets herself kidnapped by some ruthless cartel members. And while Travolta hasn’t been too keen on talking to the press during the embarrassing, highly-publicized lawsuits and claims of inappropriate homosexual advances filed against him, he has talked a bit about the film and its director.

“He’s terrific. He’s a genius,” Travolta said of Stone. “He wants you to do the best performance while he watches you like a hawk. Your performance is watched, every word, every cadence and he really forces you to do your best work and then you come up with the things he paid you for, which is your own interpretation. He wants that too. He definitely wants that. He’s quite brilliant.”

Travolta may have pleased many fans with the film, but the allegations made by the men who claim he made unwanted advances on them won’t be going away anytime soon. A lawsuit was just filed a couple of weeks ago by one of the men, and an investigation into the matter is eminent. He recently cancelled an appearance on “The Late Show With David Letterman” only to have co-star Blake Lively take his place.