144685860 Jane Fonda on Meryl Streep, Cannes & Her First TV Series Role

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74-year-old Jane Fonda proved she could keep up with the best of them at a special program sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York last night.

Interviewed by journalist Hilton Als before a screening of her latest film, Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding (which opens tomorrow and has Fonda playing a ’60s-style hippie in Woodstock, New York, alongside co-stars Elizabeth Olsen, Chace Crawford, and Catherine Keener), the actress was elegantly coiffed, reed-thin, and smartly dressed in black slacks, boots and a zebra-patterned jacket.

She told Als she attended the Cannes Film Festival last month not to meet filmmakers, but because “I’m being paid very well by L’Oreal,” something she said covers her bills. “I love working for L’Oreal. Can you imagine a skincare company that has an ambassador who is 74 years old?”

Speaking of age, when asked whether there is enough appropriate film work for her and her contemporaries today, Fonda pointed to Meryl Streep, whom she called “the new Harrison Ford.” Streep, who will turn 63 this month, can open a film in August and have it be a hit, Fonda said.

Meanwhile, Fonda—who won Oscars for her performances in Klute and Coming Home—said that if young fans recognize her on the street today, “I know exactly what they’re talking about: Monster-in-Law“—in which she plays the scheming, about-to-be mother-in-law of Jennifer Lopez—”not Klute.”

But she has a recurring role as the chief executive of a media empire in Aaron Sorkin’s new HBO series, The Newsroom, with her friend, actor Jeff Daniels—her first role in a television series, she said. “It’s brave, it’s brilliant, I’m just so excited.”

And then, before walking off the stage, she pulled out her iPhone and shot photos of the audience and screen behind her—perhaps for her blog?

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