Jane Fonda, an over-sharer both on and off screen
Two-time Oscar winner Jane Fonda needs no introduction, but for an ensemble dramedy like her TIFF world premiere This Is Where I Leave You, it may seem at first that she needs some elbow room.
Playing the newly widowed matriarch in a dysfunctional family brought together by a funeral, she’s surrounded by a posse of young smartypants who play her squabbling children: Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Adam Driver and Corey Stoll. That’s quite the comedy team to be playing with, especially for an actress known for her dramatic work, in films like On Golden Pond, Coming Home and Klute; she won Best Actress prizes for the last two. But Fonda wasn’t the least bit daunted, and neither is her sexy and sassy character Hilary, a celebrity psychiatrist and self-help author who is fond of telling everybody what to do and where to get off. She makes her kids blush by flaunting her enhanced physique and talking too much about her sex life. Fonda, 76, was delighted to be back in Toronto, a city she knows well, as the first audiences got to see the film, directed by Shawn Levy. Did you find it hard to be in an ensemble piece surrounded by so many comic actors? It takes pressure off me, but what a learning curve for me! I just love the fact that in my advanced age I find myself surrounded by such monumental talents that can do things I can’t do. I can improvise drama — much of Coming Home was improvised. I can’t improvise comedy. It takes a different kind of brain. It’s really hard. I’ve tried. I wish you would actually write the book that Hilary is selling in the movie. It sounds fun.
I’ve already done it! ( Prime Time: Love, Health, Sex, Fitness, Friendship, Spirit— Making the Most of All of Your Life.) And my children think I share too much. I totally identify with her. (Director) Shawn Levy told me you needed no persuasion to wear the big fake boobs Hilary sports in the film.
Why not? It was so fun to have these prosthetic things put on. They fall apart. They’re so thin and well done when you take them off they can’t be used again. I should have had them bronzed. I loved them so much. We shot in New York and the makeup trailer was across the street from the studio and I had them put on, it took about three hours, and as I was walking across the street, a car went by and (someone stared) and I said, “I bet!” Do you prefer comedy or drama these days? You always want the best scripts. You go with the words. But what I love about this is the same thing I love about the TV series I’m doing for Netflix ( Grace and Frankie), which is a dramedy. It’s got a lot of laughter and a lot of tears. Those are my favourite kinds of things. Bill Murray makes a joke about your 1980s Jane Fonda Workout videos in St. Vincent, the movie he premiered at TIFF. Does he? I can’t wait to see that movie!