‘Mad Max’ and Jane Fonda, the combination that never came to fruition
As many young people started to wear more daring outfits and rock music took an experimental turn, Hollywood also realised that the 1960s were an era of fighting for freedom and progression. The sexually liberated ethos coincided with the easing of censorship within the film industry, allowing many mainstream films to feature explicit sex, nudity and violence, among other taboo themes.
Jane Fonda soon became one of cinema’s leading stars during the decade, becoming the face of liberated female sexuality due to her starring roles in scandalous films, including several European movies. In the French drama Circle of Love, she made headlines after appearing nude before garnering further controversy with The Game Is Over, also by Roger Vadim, which was accused of obscenity.
The actor starred in Barbarella, too, which is perhaps her most iconic movie from this period. Wearing a cosmic silver outfit truly immortalised her legacy as a sex symbol, with Arctic Monkeys even referencing the costume in their song ‘Arabella’ decades later. Yet, during this time, Fonda also established herself as an esteemed actor, capable of plenty more than erotically charged dramas. She appeared in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in 1969, earning her an Academy Award nomination and praise for movies like Barefoot in the Park and Hurry Sundown.
However, Fonda’s career truly began to take a greater shift when she appeared in Klute as Bree Daniels, taking a feminist approach to play a call girl who begins receiving threatening messages and calls from a mysterious stalker. She earned a ‘Best Actress’ award at the Oscars, boosting her career even further. Since then, she’s starred in many popular movies, such as 9 to 5, On Golden Pond, The Morning After and Rollover.
However, the actor has missed out on various roles, whether that be due to a producer ultimately picking another star or because she simply turned the part down herself. She regrets some of these, such as a role in Doctor Zhivago, although the same can’t be said of The Exorcist, which she rejected because she viewed the premise as “a capitalist rip-off”.
One role that she was considered for ended up being played by Tina Turner – Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. The film was the third entry in the Mad Max film series, with Mel Gibson playing the main character. Turner had only starred in a few films in acting roles before she was offered the part of Entity, with director George Miller seemingly more interested in getting the singer in his film than the established Oscar-winning Fonda.
Unfortunately for Turner, she only had one more acting role after Mad Max, playing The Mayor in Last Action Hero, which was a failure on all accounts. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome was fairly well-received, although it is not considered one of the best in the series. It seems as though Fonda was better off not starring in the film. That same year, she appeared in Agnes of God by Norman Jewison, a box office success which received several prestigious award nominations.
