Travolta on Hunting De Niro in 'Killing Season'

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In his new thriller Killing Season, John Travolta faces off in some intense fighting scenes with Robert De Niro and we caught up with the Academy Award-nominated actor at last night's New York premiere to find out how physical the action got on the set.

"It was a pretty physical film," Travolta said. "But because of the cerebral balance, it was more fun than normal. Because you're doing all these wild scenes, but you also have tons of dialogue where you're explaining your state of mind. I've never quite had to do that before."

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The star also spoke about working with and physically sparring with De Niro. "In this case, I was so happy to find a script that we both could sink our teeth into. I play tennis and work out every day, but he does three hours of it and I do one hour. So you know, he's a pretty rugged guy."

Director Mark Steven Johnson praised the work of both actors -- revealing "extremely physical" scenes -- and also spoke about De Niro's dedication to intense early morning workouts during filming.

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In Killing Season -- hitting theaters July 12 -- a reclusive U.S. military veteran (De Niro) and European hunter (Travolta) strike up an unlikely friendship deep in the Appalachian Mountains. But when the hunter's true intentions are revealed, an intense battle is sparked that ends up proving an old adage: the purest form of war is one-on-one.