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Jane Fonda:I wouldnt slap anybody at the Oscars.
I dont think its appropriate.
Theres people Id slap somewhere else.
What do you think about the entire situation?LT:Its like pop culture.
This is lagging around longer than most stuff.
Why is it so shocking to see an actor slap another actor?
Ive had cameras hidden on set that have revealed me having a set-to with a director.
You expect things like fights within the family.
When youre making a film, thats your family.
Theres a war in Ukraine.
So I dont want to spend too much energy thinking about Chris Rock and Will Smith.
Okay.JF:Im saying that generally, not to you.
Well, in some ways we are here to talk about the end of a TV show.
Things have their life and then things come to replace it.
JF:Weve made two movies together since then.
How has your relationship evolved over this time period?JF:I love her deeply.
I liked her before, but I know her better now.
I feel safe with her.
Im in bed with her, and without even thinking about it, I spooned her.
It just felt really great.
I dont know of another actor Id do that with.
Jane, in the past youve talked about feeling attracted to strong personalities in men, like your husbands.
Did you feel the same way about Lily?JF:Yeah.
It started the first time I ever saw her onstage.
I was not a television person.
I wanted to attach myself to her in whatever way I could.
I said to myself, I dont want to make a movie about secretaries unless shes in it.
Now its become, I dont want to ever work again unless shes in it.
LT:Ever since I sawKlute,Id cut my hair like her character, Bree Daniels.
When she came backstage, I thought she had a cape on.
She swept in like a force of nature, her hair flying.
JF:All the people Lily became had soul.
LT:So much of that sensibility comes from my partner, Jane Wagner.
JF:Jane Wagner is Jane one.
I am Jane two.
Sometimes I write to Lily and I sign J2, so shell know.
Grace is the uptight one, and Frankie is the hippie.
Have there been moments of difficulty youve worked through together?JF:I dont think so.
LT:Anything that would happen wed think was not important.
It might have been momentary, or maybe I felt some way reacting to something.
But you forget about it.
Theres something fundamentally strong you cant destroy.
I guess I think all relationships take work, even our friendships.
JF:We dont hang out.
I dont hang out with anybody.
LT:You dont have time to hang out.
JF:I dont hang out.
Were either working together, or were raising money.
Shes been to my house many times but always for fund-raisers.
Oh, no, thats not true, because I have dinner parties and you come to them.
And theyre fun, arent they?
Took a year to persuade her and Dolly to do the movie.
And then two days on this thing, she said, I want to quit.
She asked us to let her out of her contract because she didnt think she could do it.
There was no animation there, and I was singing.
I said, Oh, Im just so awful.
What am I going to do?
I couldnt bear to go to Jane.
So I went to her producing partner, Bruce Gilbert.
I said, Bruce, youve got to let me out because Im going to ruin this whole movie.
The next day I saw the dailies from that day.
And I thought I was pretty good.
I felt like I could do it if I played that role.
But Im always a little afraid to start.
Im not afraid when Jane and I produce a play ourselves.
JF:This is Jane one.
LT:That I felt okay about because I knew what it was.
When somebody else writes something, Im not sure what theyre intending.
I cant always tell.
JF:All of that is because she has got a lot of depth to her.
Im very superficial, so I dont worry about it most of the time.
Was9 to 5informed by any personal experiences with sexual harassment in the workplace?JF:No.
I had one experience with sexual harassment.
It was a French director, not the one I married another one.
Godard?JF:Oh God, no.
I wouldve slapped him, to circle back to the first issue.
It was another director.
I need to know what your orgasms are like.
LT:Ive certainly been an office worker.
So I was familiar with all kinds of lifes aspects.
He gets his comeuppance at the end, but thats meaningful entertainment.
You just want it to be good.
LT:When I say whatgoodmeans to me, its something thats fulfilled.
Rather than pure polemics?JF:I handle the pure polemics so she can be human.
I dont think thats true, Jane.LT:Its not true at all.
Is a9 to 5sequel happening?
Whats the status?JF:Boy, I wish, because its needed.
Theyre usually contracted out from a company, which means they have no protections whatsoever.
If we made this movie today, all three of us would have second jobs.
We just couldnt get a script that expressed the new reality, truthfully, with humor.
Its very difficult to do it.
I certainly believed in the principles.
Id have quarrels with people who were too narrowly feminist.
They had to viciously be for something.
JF:The feminists I knew felt if you werent a lesbian, you werent a feminist.
I became an activist because of the war in Vietnam.
There was a time where I was on the road going to military bases to talk to soldiers.
I wrote in my diary, It deflects from whats really important, which is the war.
We have to end the war.
It seemed like a waste of time.
I didnt get it.
It took me a while.
I couldnt be a true feminist while I was married because my marriages were all compromised.
Once I was single, I got it quick.
So maybe you do have to be a lesbian to really be a feminist.LT:No.
JF:No way.
Im just kidding.JF:I know you are.
Ive been married to three of them and they were all fabulous.
But its like having a front seat at the patriarchy, up close and personal.
I knew what that meant.
LT:I dont know if there were any men functioning at that point.
I mean, I dont know if they were expanded and open.
A lot of conversations around gender today are centered on trans rights.
There was a recent controversy at Netflix about Dave Chappelles special.
Theyre killed, theyre injured every day, like Asian people suffering attacks and things like that.
Anything that can be done to do away with otherness needs to be done.
Netflix is a good place to start.
I dont know Reed Hastings, but I know Ted Sarandos pretty well.
Hes a terrific guy with a huge heart.
I agree with the employees demands, although I didnt see the Chappelle show.
LT:And how did the online grid respond?
Have you talked to Ted about that?JF:No.
Maybe you could write him an email.JF:I do send him emails.
But the screen has a lot of impact on how people behave in the real world.
And he took back that statement, actually.
Did you ever want to run for office?JF:Ive considered it.
Can I ask what it would be for?JF:Takes too much time.
Because we only have eight years left and its totally urgent.
Thats what Im going to be devoting a whole lot of the rest of my life to.
Which doesnt mean much, because Im 84.
Both of you have been talked about as ahead of your time politically.
And Im not ahead of my time.
Because Im famous, it seems like Im the first one.
But Im totally derivative.
I come late to everything and then I make a big ruckus.
I suppose the time will come when I wont be able to ambulate.
And then Ill slowly fade from the view of the public.
JF:Chronological age is meaningless.
My dad died six years earlier than I am now.
He seemed so old because he had a heart disease.
Rita Moreno is 90.
You would never know.
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