INT. DINING ROOM
RITA HAYWORTH (60s) and JANE FONDA (60s) reflect on their lives in the conversational interview. They sit around an ornate table and are in formal clothes, done up to the nines.
RITA HAYWORTH (60s) and JANE FONDA (60s) reflect on their lives in the conversational interview. They sit around an ornate table and are in formal clothes, done up to the nines.
JANE
You were like me, born into the business.
RITA
I was, that’s true. But not in the same way.
JANE
How so?
RITA
You wanted it, and I was told I’d be in it.
JANE
Well--
RITA
Being told you’re to do something isn’t…
(loss for words)
JANE
Isn’t the same.
Silence falls.
RITA
I’ve always wondered this about you, Please tell me if you don’t want to say anything--
I always hated, hated interviews and prying.
JANE
It’s all part of it. Whatever you want to ask me, ask away!
RITA
Did you resent the sex-goddess reputation?
JANE
(laughing)
Says Miss Sex Goddess in the flesh!
RITA
(laughs a bit)
I couldn’t be further from Gilda. Barbarella--
JANE
(still laughing)
My crowning achievement!
RITA
That look— your look; the blonde bombshell hair perfectly so, and the makeup.
That was really the defining look of the 60s.
JANE
Bridget Bardot
RITA
Did you ever resent it? Being so… sexy.
JANE
I never took myself as seriously as that. It wasn’t as serious. I embraced it more. It was… a power in a sense.
RITA
(nods)
JANE
Well that’s not completely true. I was embarrassed by that movie, yes, but now I can laugh it off. I think it can be powerful, and sort of, you know, I’m the real one that’s in charge here type thing.
RITA
I never felt that power. We didn’t get any choice. You know I came from dancing, and I had a work-ethic.
JANE
You danced from a young age.
RITA
A very young age, about 8 years old. By the time I was 13 my father had us dancing three times a day for shows.
JANE
Toughens you up.
RITA
I wanted to act. I had a good discipline. I wanted classes, to act, to sing.
They did those at the studios, but they put me in a box.
JANE
I think Hollywood will always box people, you know, typecast them.
I was fortunate to have had the serious roles too.
RITA
Mine came later, but by then really, I don’t know…
(thinking). It was too late.
JANE
I don’t think it’s ever too late.
RITA
I couldn’t remember the lines by that point.
JANE
People think our lives are glamorous. The money. The husbands--
RITA
(laughs)
I beat you there.
JANE
(raises her eyebrow)
Five. You did!
JANE
Where was I?
RITA
How are lives are glamorous. Don’t get me wrong--
I loved what I did, and have had a fortunate life.
It’s just very different. Very different from today.
JANE
In our heyday, we were what [pause], 25 years apart,
and think from the late 60s til now, how much it’s changed.
RITA
I had no money. The power now is with the actor,
when you get to that certain point. But I didn’t have any money.
JANE
You were one of the first to have their own production company! That’s huge!
RITA
Then that dim-witted, dead-beat husband of my told me sell it. To pay his debts.
JANE
When we’re the stars. We’re the ones doing it,
yet it’s not enough for us. We need the [pause]
adulation to feel self-worth. Is that the reason you suppose?
RITA
I hated my father. Even though I talked to him from time to time in my life,
I didn’t care for him, for what he did.
JANE
(laughs)
You can have the best father in the world and still end up like us!
You were like me, born into the business.
RITA
I was, that’s true. But not in the same way.
JANE
How so?
RITA
You wanted it, and I was told I’d be in it.
JANE
Well--
RITA
Being told you’re to do something isn’t…
(loss for words)
JANE
Isn’t the same.
Silence falls.
RITA
I’ve always wondered this about you, Please tell me if you don’t want to say anything--
I always hated, hated interviews and prying.
JANE
It’s all part of it. Whatever you want to ask me, ask away!
RITA
Did you resent the sex-goddess reputation?
JANE
(laughing)
Says Miss Sex Goddess in the flesh!
RITA
(laughs a bit)
I couldn’t be further from Gilda. Barbarella--
JANE
(still laughing)
My crowning achievement!
RITA
That look— your look; the blonde bombshell hair perfectly so, and the makeup.
That was really the defining look of the 60s.
JANE
Bridget Bardot
RITA
Did you ever resent it? Being so… sexy.
JANE
I never took myself as seriously as that. It wasn’t as serious. I embraced it more. It was… a power in a sense.
RITA
(nods)
JANE
Well that’s not completely true. I was embarrassed by that movie, yes, but now I can laugh it off. I think it can be powerful, and sort of, you know, I’m the real one that’s in charge here type thing.
RITA
I never felt that power. We didn’t get any choice. You know I came from dancing, and I had a work-ethic.
JANE
You danced from a young age.
RITA
A very young age, about 8 years old. By the time I was 13 my father had us dancing three times a day for shows.
JANE
Toughens you up.
RITA
I wanted to act. I had a good discipline. I wanted classes, to act, to sing.
They did those at the studios, but they put me in a box.
JANE
I think Hollywood will always box people, you know, typecast them.
I was fortunate to have had the serious roles too.
RITA
Mine came later, but by then really, I don’t know…
(thinking). It was too late.
JANE
I don’t think it’s ever too late.
RITA
I couldn’t remember the lines by that point.
JANE
People think our lives are glamorous. The money. The husbands--
RITA
(laughs)
I beat you there.
JANE
(raises her eyebrow)
Five. You did!
JANE
Where was I?
RITA
How are lives are glamorous. Don’t get me wrong--
I loved what I did, and have had a fortunate life.
It’s just very different. Very different from today.
JANE
In our heyday, we were what [pause], 25 years apart,
and think from the late 60s til now, how much it’s changed.
RITA
I had no money. The power now is with the actor,
when you get to that certain point. But I didn’t have any money.
JANE
You were one of the first to have their own production company! That’s huge!
RITA
Then that dim-witted, dead-beat husband of my told me sell it. To pay his debts.
JANE
When we’re the stars. We’re the ones doing it,
yet it’s not enough for us. We need the [pause]
adulation to feel self-worth. Is that the reason you suppose?
RITA
I hated my father. Even though I talked to him from time to time in my life,
I didn’t care for him, for what he did.
JANE
(laughs)
You can have the best father in the world and still end up like us!