The scene too much to bear for Jane Fonda: “It makes me cry”
With two Academy Awards to her name for her performances in Klute and Coming Home, Jane Fonda is one of Hollywood’s most enduring icons, having carved out a reputation for herself as one of the finest actors of her generation and delivering countless scenes of genuine magnetism. Fonda may come from a rich Hollywood heritage, but her skills were all her own, as she delivered a range of unstoppable performances to develop a commanding career.
Throughout the likes of Barbarella, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Fun with Dick and Jane and 9 to 5, Fonda proved her worth as one of the most significant American actors to ever grace the screen. However, not every movie moment was one that Fonda has particularly positive memories of, and she once explained that 1981’s On Golden Pond features a scene so pointedly painted with emotion that she simply can’t bear to watch.
The film features a scene in which Fonda performs alongside her real-life father, Peter Fonda, and when she was shown the clip on a television show, the actor turned away from the screen and appeared to get emotional. The memory of her father in visual format seemed too much for Fonda to bear, and it overwhelmed her to a painful degree.
In an interview on HBO’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?, Fonda explained the reason she can’t bear to watch the scene in particular, noting, “Because it makes me cry. I miss my dad so much.” It’s a reminder that no matter how much somebody’s star rises, no matter how close they are to celebrity, some things are unavoidable.
To star alongside your father in a picture is one thing, but to be a part of such a scene is something altogether more imposing. Wallace followed up by pointing out, “That scene felt like more than a scene in the movie, it felt.”
“It was,” Fonda replied. “You know, I loved my dad and admired him. He was quite a bit like [his movie character] Norman — removed, not able to express. He always liked to do things that were rehearsed a lot. And I purposely did something that hadn’t been rehearsed because I wanted him to be surprised.”
On Golden Pond is a 1981 family drama directed by Mark Rydell with a screenplay by Ernest Thompson, adapted from his 1979 play of the same name. Peter and Jane Fonda featured alongside Katharine Hepburn in a film about an ageing professor who is estranged from his daughter, who reconcile with one another when the professor and his wife agree to care for the daughter’s boyfriend’s son. It might be considered that the scene is a more personal moment than many assumed.
Going on to relate the painful experience of watching the scene again, Fonda said, “And when I said I want to be your friend and I touched his arm, we had not rehearsed that, and he flinches. And he ducked his head, and he put his hand like this, but I saw that he was emotional.” Those moments were between two characters and two people who loved each other: “It’s funny for an actor who doesn’t want to be seen as emotional, but he was terrified of emotions. And that meant a lot to me.”
She then explained her anxiety at having to perform the scene in the first place. “I went to his house that night,” Fonda said. “I wanted to talk to him about the scene and because I’d had a hard time with the scene. It was so personal that when we actually got there to do it, I totally dried up. It’s like an actor’s worst nightmare.”
