Jane Fonda names the worst movie of her career
With every decade, cinema welcomes new faces who become icons of the screen, and in the 1960s, Jane Fonda was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Hailing from an acting family, she naturally found herself at home in front of the camera. Soon, Fonda booked roles in films directed by esteemed filmmakers and did something a little different compared to her contemporaries.
Fonda stood out because she often worked in French-language productions, collaborating various times with her then-husband Roger Vadim, who cast her in several erotic pictures which garnered significant controversy. In 1964, she stirred up shock when she appeared nude in Circle of Love by Vadim, making her the first American actor to get naked in a foreign movie.
Two years later, she starred in The Game Is Over, which resulted in copies of the film being seized in Italy due to being considered obscene. As a result of these films, Fonda was often considered a sex symbol, which was further cemented in public opinion when she appeared in Barbarella as the lead character, wearing little silver outfits and knee high boots as she journeyed through space.
As she entered the 1970s, she began starring in more acclaimed films, winning an Oscar for her performance as Bree Daniels in Klute. By this point, she had been immersing herself in feminist politics and, having cut her hair short, set a trend in American cinema. Her character was a call girl, but Fonda challenged stereotypes and expectations, making Bree bold and autonomous.
Since then, Fonda has worked with lots of talented directors, lending herself to Jean-Luc Godard’s experimental Marxist film Tout Va Bien, the popular Dolly Parton comedy 9 to 5, and On Golden Pond, which she starred in alongside her father, Henry Fonda.
Despite Fonda’s cinematic and political achievements as an actor and activist, there is one movie she is not proud of. In The Cool of the Day, directed by Robert Stevens, was one of Fonda’s earlier movies, but she conceded that it is absolutely terrible.
In fact, she claims it is the worst movie she has ever been a part of. Talking to Star Tribune, she revealed some of her favourite movies she’s made alongside the worst. Explaining her hatred for the 1963 movie, she said, “There’s enough other stuff going on in the world that makes you want to cringe. But I’m surprised how many people say they love Sunday in New York. Why? I made a terrible movie called In the Cool of the Day.”
Recalling the details of the film, she continued, “John Houseman produced it. I can’t even remember the name of the director. It also starred Peter Finch and Angela Lansbury, and we shot it in Greece. I’m not even sure that it got released.”
Evidently, there were some big names in the movie, but that didn’t stop it from being, according to Fonda, a bad film. In the Cool of the Day was based on a book published in 1960, written by Susan Ertz. Finch was employed after previously working with Stevens on the film I Thank A Fool, which was the first of two movies Stevens made as part of a deal with MGM.
The film was released, but the reviews were not great. It seems as though In the Cool of the Day is a film Fonda would rather forget.
