FILM 2359: KLUTE (1971)

TRIVIA: Jane Fonda's Best Actress Oscar acceptance speech for this movie was one of the shortest in movie history: "Thank you...thank you very much, members of the Academy, and thank all of you who applauded. There's a great deal to say and I'm not going to say it tonight, I would just like to really thank you very much.". In her autobiography Fonda said her father coached her to say that when she asked him, "Dad, how can I avoid doing a political speech at the Academy Awards and not come off looking like a coward or a phony, someone who's dodging the issues? What do I say?". And he told her to say exactly that.

The scene with the psychiatrist was mostly ad-libbed. Pakula used just one camera and later said he should have used two, as Vivian Nathan's reactions were much more interesting in the takes where the camera focused on Jane Fonda.

Bree's apartment was built on a sound stage at a New York film studio where Jane Fondacould spend the night. The director even had a working toilet installed in the bathroom of the set. Jane contributed to decorating the apartment by deciding Bree would be a romance reader and have a cat. Jane remembered an actress from Lee Strasberg's private class that occasionally serviced John F. Kennedy, so she decided Bree had done this as well. A signed photo of Kennedy appears on the fridge in Bree's apartment.

Sutherland and Fonda developed a nonexclusive romantic relationship offscreen which lasted until about June 1972. He was her date to the Oscars when she won Best Actress for this movie.

According to her autobiography, Jane Fonda hung out with call girls and pimps for a week before beginning this film in order to prepare for her role. When none of the pimps offered to "represent" her, she became convinced she wasn't desirable enough to play a prostitute and urged the director to replace her with friend Faye Dunaway.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

I’m making my way through the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. See my blog post about my copy of the book here…

You can buy an updated version (which I will get after I’ve made my way through this edition) here…

I really hope you can come on this journey with me – if you do I’d love to know which films you’ve enjoyed the most!

This is featured on the podcast I Saw What You Did episode Laconic Oaf.