Jane Fonda names the “most meaningful” movie of her career: “I have that experience”
Jane Fonda’s career has been filled with accolades and controversies, but no experience can match that of getting to appear alongside her family.
It almost goes without saying that Fonda is one of the most defining movie stars of the 20th century, and was responsible for some of the biggest shifts in the history of the industry. Her career began to peak during the height of the New Hollywood era at the end of the 1960s and ‘70s, when studios began to invest in more bold, experimental films from auteur filmmakers. As with many of her contemporaries during the era, she was outspoken about both the film industry and global politics at large.
While Fonda seemed to attract backlash from right-wing pundits whenever she eloquently spoke about topical issues, it’s hard to argue with the sheer number of classics on her résumé. She managed to win two Academy Awards for ‘Best Actress’ early on in her career for the crime thriller Klute and the psychological post-war drama Coming Home, showing variety in the parts that she picked, even if she has come to regret a few; she’s among the few performers who can truly disappear into a role and make the viewer forget that they’re watching a character.
Of course, some of Fonda’s success can be credited to the fact that she was one of the original ‘nepo babies’, because her father, Henry Fonda, was one of the biggest stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Although the relationship that they had was often fraught with disputes, she got the chance to act alongside her father in the drama On Golden Pond, which was put into production when he was very sick, and she has cited the film as the most important of her career.
“My dad was sick, and I knew he wasn’t going to live much longer,” she said, “I guess it was the most meaningful movie I’ve done because of working with him.”
Although playing an onscreen father and daughter may have seemed like a challenge for the Fondas, the experience allowed them to treat each other in a professional capacity, which, according to Jane, was a rewarding experience that brought them closer together.
“Working with my father was just like living with my father,” she said, “You didn’t get much input. He didn’t talk much. He didn’t want to be ruffled, but he was there. He was a yeoman. He was a pro”.
On Golden Pond was met with positive reviews and became both a ‘Best Picture’ nominee and one of the highest-grossing films of 1981. Regardless of it all, for Jane, the most powerful part of making the film was getting the chance to work closely with her father, who died shortly after it was released.
“A daughter who absolutely worshipped her father, who never expressed emotion, he didn’t, who never verbalised any love or affection, who was extremely repressed, and I get to produce a movie and act with him, and in that movie, I get to say to him things that I was never able to say in life,” she said, before pointing out how it helped them “reconcile” and her pride at having produced a film for him that would go on to win an Oscar.
She added, “I am so grateful for having had an experience like that. He died five months later, but I have that movie. I have that experience with him.”
