|
Oscar-winning actress and peace activist Jane Fonda was honoured with The Lifetime Achievement Award by MEIFF and Cinema Verite last night. Here she talks about the award and her hope for a better world
Sensational at 70 is the only way to describe actress Jane Fonda. After more than 50 years in the film industry, it would be easy to expect an actress as high profile as Fonda to arrive at an interview, say the usual ‘programmed' answers and leave without a trace.
But yesterday, nothing could have been further from the truth. I arrived to find Fonda incredibly welcoming, despite the early hour and having only arrived in Abu Dhabi the previous evening. The actress has mastered the knack of putting you at ease in an instant by looking directly into your eyes as she addresses you in a soft, warm manner.
"I think it's an amazing mix of people and I'm really interested in finding out more,” she said, clearly in awe of the spectacle that is the UAE.
"I am intrigued why people come here but I guess the sunshine helps. I have visited Dubai once for the Global Women's Leadership Conference but this is my first time in Abu Dhabi and I can't wait to explore a little.
"I'm only here until Thursday which is a short visit,” she said.
Fonda, who was invited to the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) to be honoured by the event and accept a Lifetime Achievement Award, looked striking in a lightly coloured two piece suit — her dedication to those aerobic workouts, which made her a household name in the 80s, has clearly paid-off.
Lasting impression
Having worked alongside some of the world's biggest stars, Fonda took her time when asked exactly which of her co-stars had left a lasting impression. After starring up at the ceiling, a wry smile eventually began to appear: "She probably wasn't the best or most enjoyable person I've ever had the pleasure of working with, but she was definitely the most interesting and memorable. Katherine Hepburn had this way of trying to let me know she was always teaching me,” she said of their time together in the 1982 Oscar winning film On Golden Pond, which also starred Fonda's father Henry.
"She seemed to believe I needed tutoring and maybe I did. But it made working with her slightly odd. I always had this feeling she was doing it as a way of making sure she was talked about even after she had died. I imagine her thoughts were like ‘right, this Fonda will be around long after me, so let's make sure she talks about me in interviews long after I've gone'. And let's face it – it worked.”
Last night Fonda was awarded her Lifetime Achievement Award at a lavish black tie ceremony at Emirates Palace. It was presented jointly on behalf of the Cinema Verite and MEIFF a first time collaboration for the prestigious organisation.
The Institute Cinema Verite is in an exhibition/screening space dedicated to social and humanitarian issues and helps finance socially conscious films on a yearly basis.
Before the ceremony yesterday, the actress was genuinely gracious about her latest honour.
"In all honesty I have received many of these awards and as you'd probably imagine it's not like collecting an Oscar and the trophy just gathers dust in a cabinet.
"Rightly so, many people believe picking up an award of this nature is not exactly the high point in your career. However this one is different and I really mean it.
"This award is the reason I'm in Abu Dhabi and I'm very excited about the potential it has."
"It represents a partnership between Cinema Verite and MEIFF which has never been done before. That means it's already allowing the world of film to break down barriers and unite cultures. That is so important and it's the reason I'm here to accept my award.”
Fonda rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and has maintained a steady movie career ever since. She has won two Academy Awards for Klute and Coming Home and is no stranger from the award ceremony circuit. Although she announced her retirement from acting in 1991, Fonda was soon lured back to the business in 2005 with Monster- in-Law, and later Georgia Rule alongside Lindsay Lohan, released in 2007.
Despite her successful career, Fonda is probably just as famous for her commitment to social and feminist causes.
Activist
She has served as an activist for many political causes, one of the most notable and controversial of which was her opposition to the Vietnam War. She has also protested the Iraq War and violence against women. She describes herself as a liberal and a feminist. "I now fight for the rights of women and children around the world. I believe it is them who are affected the most by war and need protecting. Women bring a sense of calm for me in life and I believe they affect almost every aspect of life in a profound way.
"I have lived in Atlanta, Georgia, for the past 18 years and it is a very poor state. I work with girls and boys to try and educate them about sexual issues and violence against women.
"With no belief in themselves and their prospects, the amount of teenage pregnancies is high. The boys think they have to hit women in order to be men and the girls think they have nothing to live for so why not just make babies. It's very sad and I'm trying to re-educate as many of them as I can.
"And we can make a difference. Nine to Five, a film I made with Dolly Parton was about life behind the scenes in an office of women. It eventually was the reason the District 925 Code was created which is a public employee union.”
Born in New York City to legendary screen star Henry Fonda and New York socialite Frances Seymour Brokaw, Fonda was destined to an uncommon, and influential life in the limelight. "I'm privileged. I had everything I could wish for, I went to all the good schools and had every opportunity at my feet. "But not everyone is as lucky as me and I see that.”
Her appearance in several risqué movies including Barbarella in 1968, directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim, could have been so different said Fonda.
"I was young and unaware of the world and myself back then. Looking back the film could have been so different — with a bit of tweaking it could be the best feminist film of all time and instead it is almost the antithesis of that.
"In June I started filming in Bosnia with people I trust and I plan to make a movie close to my heart. All will be revealed soon.”
Feminist causes
Jane Fonda has been a longtime supporter of feminist causes, including V-Day, a movement to stop violence against women, inspired by the off-Broadway hit The Vagina Monologues, of which she is an honorary chairperson.
A 1972 Fonda visit to Hanoi during the Vietnam war where she campaigned in favour of the communist regime and the subsequent release of several photographs of her atop a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun used against American air crews earned her the nickname "Hanoi Jane”. As a result of her visit to Hanoi and the accompanying photographs, many Americans continue to regard Fonda with general resentment and hostility to this day.
On February 16, 2004, Fonda led a march through Ciudad Juárez in Mexico, with Sally Field, Eve Ensler, and other women, urging Mexico to provide sufficient resources to newly appointed officials helping investigate the murders of hundreds of women in the rough border city.
Fonda visited Sweden in September 2006 to support political party FI (Feministic Initiative) in the national election. FI focuses on issues that will benefit women and is led by the previous leader of Sweden's communist party. Coincidentally, "fi” is also the Swedish military abbreviation for "enemy”.
Did you Know?
Jane Fonda was chosen as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars (No 21) in film history by Empire magazine in 1995.
Fonda married Roger Vadim in 1965 and had one daughter, Vanessa, who was born in 1968. The couple divorced in 1973 and she married Tom Hayden; she and Hayden had one son, Troy Garity and raised a foster daughter, Mary Luana Williams. Fonda and Heyden divorced in 1990.
Fonda married Ted Turner on her birthday in 1991 and divorced in 2000.
Fonda suffered from bulimia from age 13 to age 37. While modelling, she said she lived on cigarettes, coffee, speed, and strawberry yoghurt.
Fonda won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in Klute in 1971, She won her second Oscar for Coming Home in 1979.
In her modelling days after college, she was twice on the cover of Vogue magazine.
Fonda was romantically linked to Alexander Whitelaw, Donald Sutherland and hairdresser Barry Matalon.
Her aerobics video Jane Fonda's Workout sold 17 million copies, making it the best-selling home video ever and her an icon of this form of exercise in 1982.
|
