Robert Redford explains his admiration for Jane Fonda: “It just fell into place”
As far as absolute icons of the big screen go, it’s undeniable that both Robert Redford and Jane Fonda are two of the all-time greats of American cinema, and thankfully, they have collaborated with one another on a number of occasions, developing a very special working relationship.
Redford is best known for his appearances in The Twilight Zone, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Candidate, The Sting and All the President’s Men, while Fonda’s efforts include stunning performances in Cat Ballou, Fun with Dick and Jane, Klute, Coming Home and On Golden Pond.
Such films have established the status of the duo, but looking at the movies that they have featured in together gives clues as to their admiration for one another. In 1966, Fonda and Redford starred alongside Marlon Brando in The Chase, which tells of a grand scheme that culminates in a prison break.
A year later, the pair portrayed a newlywed couple in Gene Saks’ Barefoot in the Park, based on Neil Simon’s 1963 play of the same name, which Redford had already been a part of. Lawyer Paul and the free-spirited Corie enjoy a highly intense relationship, but things border on the farcical when they move into a five-flight Greenwich Village apartment.
In an interview with Esquire, Redford spoke of his impression of his co-star. “Jane and I have had a very special relationship going back to The Chase. It just clicks,” he said. “Whatever her life was — which was all over the place — whatever my life was, when we came together, those things were forgotten. We were just she and I working together.”
It was 13 years after Barefoot in the Park before the duo starred together again in the western comedy-drama The Electric Horseman, which tells of a former rodeo champion hired to become the spokesperson for a cereal company but runs away with an electric-lit horse when he discovers that it has been abused.
If that was a long wait for the pair to feature alongside one another, the next was even longer. In 2017, Fonda and Redford made their fourth collaboration together in the romantic drama film Our Souls at Night, based on the novel of the same name by Kent Haruf, leading to widespread acclaim, especially surrounding the chemistry between the two actors.
Going on to explain how the two were made to act with one another, Redford noted, “It didn’t require a lot of analysis. It just fell into place. So when this came, I thought, ‘This could be something for both of us.’ I knew Jane to be a very strong woman. She’s a force. She takes risks. I’ve always admired that. And so I thought, ‘This character drives the story; that’s perfect for Jane. She would force me to take a risk as a character.’ So I sent her the book. She sent it right back. ‘I’m in.'”
Fonda had once admitted that she thought she was in love with Redford back in the day but said that he seemed to always be in a bad mood. Still, Fonda said that overall, Redford is a good person, which explains why she was willing to act with him on so many occasions. Though perhaps there might have been more collaborations, the handful of occasions that Fonda and Redford acted with one another will echo through the cinematic ages.
