The scene Jane Fonda found hardest to shoot: “I could hardly even say the words”
Very few American actors can compare to the majesty of Jane Fonda, an iconic star who brushed shoulders with the likes of Katherine Hepburn, Donald Sutherland, Harvey Keitel, Michael Caine and Bruce Dern. Rising to stardom in the 1960s, Fonda starred in some of the greatest movies of the late 20th century, including Coming Home, Klute and Barbarella.
An outspoken Hollywood icon, when a remake of Barbarella was recently proposed, with Sydney Sweeney due to take up the titular mantle, Fonda was quick to respond. Stating that she “tries not to” think about the remake, “Because I worry about what it’s going to be…I had an idea of how to do it that [original producer] Dino De Laurentiis, when he was still alive, wouldn’t listen to. But it could have been a truly feminist movie”.
Even though the original 1968 sci-fi flick, which tells the story of an astronaut in the 41st century, may remain Fonda’s most iconic movie, she doesn’t name it among the hardest of her films to shoot.
Instead, Fonda once revealed the scene that she found the hardest to shoot in an interview with the American Film Institute (AFI), speaking in depth about one particular moment in the making of the 1981 film On Golden Pond. Starring the likes of Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, the ‘Best Picture’ nominee follows the story of a father who reconnects with his estranged daughter during a trip away to a particularly beautiful pond.
“The scene where Chelsea, the daughter, finally, with the encouragement of her mother, gets up the courage to say, ‘I want us to be friends’” Fonda recalls in regard to her most difficult scene to film. “Whenever we came to that scene, I would be very emotional, I could hardly even say the words. We shot Dad’s close-up first, I so wanted it to be a full emotional scene for him, and so I gave my all to him for his close-ups, and I saved one thing for the last,” she added.
Referring to her co-star and real-life father, Henry Fonda, the actor explained, “He wasn’t used to ever doing anything that hadn’t been rehearsed, he didn’t like surprises, and so at the very last, when I said ‘I want to be your friend’, I reached out, and I touched his arm, and I could see him seize up. I could see tears begin in his eyes, and then he ducked his head and turned away, but I saw”.
Concluding, she adds: “Then it was my turn for the close-up in the scene that was my big scene in the movie and meant so much to me on a personal level, and I went dry, I had nothing left. It was the actor’s absolute nightmare. Emotions were gone”.
