The New Jane Fonda Documentary Dives Headfirst Into Her Controversial Activism

By Kelly Faircloth  |  August 20, 2018 | 5:28pm
EntertainmentMovies

Few people have lived lives as marked by reinvention as Jane Fonda, one of the most famous women of the mid-20th Century. And she’ll be talking about it in depth for Jane Fonda in Five Acts, an upcoming HBO documentary.

BuzzFeed News debuted the trailer and also talked to director and producer Susan Lacy, who said, “I think that there are gonna be the die-hard critics of her who will probably think it’s sanitized,” and then added, “I don’t think so.” As for Fonda’s controversial trip to Vietnam, Lacy said, “She went there to help stop the war. She went there to try to save lives. I think that comes across. Whether people who hate will see through that? I have no idea.” So get ready for yet another round of re-litigating Fonda’s activism.

The trailer also hints at frankness about her marriages, her early life, and her Hollywood career. Via Deadline, in July:

HBO describes Jane Fonda in Five Acts as drawing on 21 hours of interviews with Fonda, discussing such topics as her mother’s suicide, her famous father’s “emotional unavailability,” her eating disorder, her three marriages to powerful, interesting men, including Tom Hayden and Ted Turner, who are seen in the doc talking about Fonda. Other new and archival interviews include Robert Redford, and Lily Tomlin, among others.

In the meantime, check out the “Jean and Jane” season of the podcast You Must Remember This which is half dedicated to Fonda and half to Jean Seberg. Forget five acts—the woman has lived roughly 32.

 
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