Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Lily Tomlin, and Rita Moreno sit down for a chat.
JANE FONDA: Lily and I were the first to come on.
The producers figured we haven’t worked together enough.
‘80 for Brady’.Scott Garfield/Paramount
Our wanting to do this depends on who the other two are.
And we got lucky.
But who was second?
Scott Garfield/Paramount
SALLY FIELD:Well, that’s when Jane called me.
She and I had tried to work together several times, and it didn’t happen.
And then we learned it was Rita, and that was exciting!
Scott Garfield/Paramount
RITA MORENO:It was pretty exciting for me too!
I couldn’t believe it.
My agent called and said, “There’s this movie and they want you.”
Paramount Pictures
And I said, “Well, who’s in it?”
He came back with these amazing names.
And I’m like, “C’mon, really?”
Sally Field as Betty and Guy Fieri plays himself in ‘80 For Brady’ from Paramount Pictures.Scott Garfield/Paramount
And he said, “No, it’s for real.”
But it’s really nice that it’s based on a true story.
FIELD:It’s embellished because not all of that quite happened the way we did it.
Scott Garfield/Paramount
All of the hijinks of getting into the Super Bowl.
FIELD:It could be worse.
FONDA:Well, yeah, at the time it was good.
Scott Garfield/Paramount
But when you see the movie, it’s like, where am I?
FIELD:You are in there.
FONDA:I’m bearing my heart now.
Scott Garfield/Paramount
But Sally, that eating stuff you do, God!
[Laughs] And Rita, when you get so stoned that you become Guy Fieri.
That is so funny.
Scott Garfield/Paramount
But Sally is the only among us who knows much about football.
FIELD:I’m probably the biggest sports fan here.
Even though Jane likes baseball, but probably not as much as I do.
TOMLIN:When do you have time to act or read a script or do anything else?
The talk of you guys enmeshed in sports blows me away.
FIELD:you’re free to do it, you’re free to fit it all in!
it’s possible for you to have a full and complete life, Lily, I swear.
FONDA:Actually, I don’t think she could.
FONDA:Because when she’s into something, it’s like Greta Thunberg.
It’s 2000 percent intense involvement.
So, if she got into football, we’d never see her again.
FIELD:That’s like me and the Dodgers though.
She doubled for me whenever I played my cocktail organist [Bobbi-Jeanine].
FIELD:Say that slower, I don’t think people heard what you said.
You went to the Dodger game to listen to the organist.
FONDA: How did we strengthen our bond during filming?
FIELD:We tested all the bonds.
FONDA:No, we didn’t do that.
FONDA:[Laughs] No.
When you have to redo all the sound because someone was talking.
FIELD:Oh, ADR.
Did I do that?
No, I did.
But it’s a kind of comedy that works.
You just keep it going.
FIELD: Jane, you said you didn’t have anything to do.
That’s just not true.
Tell us about the whole Gronkowski scene.
That’s the one I wanted to be in.
FONDA:It was fun.
It wasn’t in the script, but I just said, “You’re so big.”
And his smile, when he says thank you with that dear smile, it gets a big laugh.
But when I bumped into him, I was about two inches below his breastbone.
Sally, you would’ve been at his kneecap.
MORENO:I spoke to his belt.
FIELD:And enjoyed every minute of it.
[Laughs]
MORENO:Every.
TOMLIN: Sally, when you ate those hot wings
FIELD:You were sitting there watching me.
TOMLIN:Were they really that hot?
FONDA:Do you want to say that?
FIELD:Oh boy, was it hot!
They also don’t need to know that I never really ate it.
I had a big bucket full of half-eaten chicken.
FONDA:But you didn’t hear that.
FIELD:Well, you could’ve had that, and I’d have gone in the closet.
MORENO:To kiss Harry Hamlin.
FONDA:I’d love to be able to do that.
FIELD:You eat that chicken, and I’ll be in the closet.
I was so moved by that and
TOMLIN:Could I have played Sybil?
FONDA:She’s referring to having auditioned and wanted to play a role that won Sally an Emmy.
It was calledSybiland was very brilliant.
It’s a woman with multiple personalities, it’s known as schizophrenia.
TOMLIN:You don’t have to tell everything.
It’s enough to say I wanted the part that she had done.
FIELD:But the truth of the matter is, Lily, you just nailed that sucker.
That scene
FONDA:That long speech that you give.
FIELD:And then also Tom was
TOMLIN:Oh, he was right there.
MORENO:Tom was astonishing as an actor to all of us, certainly to me.
There’s something that actors are able to do or not, and that’s listen.
Now I know that seems like, “Listen?
What do you mean listen?
Of course, he listens.”
It’s the way in which you listen and absorb what the other actor is saying.
But he really nailed it.
FONDA:Yeah, but I’m talking about her nailing it.
The speech that she made that changed everything.
TOMLIN:Maybe she has a different opinion.
FIELD:I don’t think she does.
She was the one that was crying when you were shooting.
I don’t think of him sexually, being seduced by this large, perfect boy, man.
But I thought of him as my son, which was more age appropriate.
But I thought I totally failed it.
I’m so pleased that Ms. Fonda was moved by it and some other people too.
But I wasn’t quite that taken with it.
FONDA:It’s interesting to know what somebody has chosen for their work.
FIELD:Their subtext.
I was going to say, “When the football player becomes the football.”
TOMLIN:I did film it a couple of times.
I tried to throw it in.
FIELD:And it made no sense to me then.
FONDA:It made sense to me.
It’s like when an actor goes into those moments of when you become the character.
MORENO:When you become the character, exactly.
FONDA:When you become
FIELD:The football.
TOMLIN:When the dancer becomes the dance is the idea.
FIELD:I get it now.
TOMLIN:That’s T.S.
Eliot that originated that.
Anyway, we’ve said how good an actor Tom was.
FIELD:He’s good.
I think we all feel Tom’s good.
FONDA:Tom did what Tom was supposed to do.
TOMLIN:He’s very sweet and considerate about how he’s acting for you.
That’s what listening really means in acting terms.
That you’re hearing something for the very first time.
FONDA:That’s very hard to do.
FIELD: Do you think like Tom we won’t retire while we’ve still got it?
FONDA:The thing is that our “does she still have it?”
is so dependent on what other people think.
FIELD:Also, athletes, it’s a different world.
It’s contingent upon their body, being able to hold it together.
I mean, our bodies are being held together by toothpicks right now.
FIELD:[Laughs] And titanium.
We can still go on.
FIELD:Actors have a different row to hoe, as it were.
TOMLIN:Well, we don’t know how long the planet’s going to last.
Whether you’re free to sell tickets.
FIELD:Well, there aren’t any tickets hardly anymore.
FONDA:Do you go to movie theaters?
FIELD:Not so much.
I have to say that very quietly.
MORENO:I love theaters!
FONDA:I go to theaters.
TOMLIN:How do you have time to do that and save the world?
FONDA:I read two books a week, and I see every movie.
MORENO:Not just every movie.
You watch all the television shows.
FONDA:I live alone.
FIELD:She sleeps nine or 10 hours a night.
FONDA:But you’ve got all those grandkids you pay attention to.
FIELD:That’s true.
But you have quite a passel.
FONDA:Mine are in college on the East Coast.
So then I don’t have to pay attention.
FIELD:Well, mine are too.
FONDA:But the idea of retiring
MORENO:It’s unthinkable.
FONDA:And do what?
MORENO:Why would I want to retire?
Unless because of age, I would have to.
FONDA:kindly go to a theater and see80 For Brady.It’s funny, and it’s sad.
We’re working so hard.
FIELD:I need to go home and rest.
I’ve got a book to read this month.
