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WHEN PETER FONDA GOT READY TO interviews for his new film, "Ulee's Gold," his publicist sat I him down and gave him some protective advice. "Don't say too much," she said. "Stick to the subject of 'Ulee's Gold.' Remember, you're not there to entertain them." Now here he is, disobeying. Sitting in a New York restaurant, dressed in a red plaid shirt, blue blazer, creaseless Levi's and sharp-toed boots, Fonda, 58, reels off anecdote after anecdote about his life, his children, and his famously dysfunctional family. Here's the one about him taking sips out of Nat "King" Cole's drink when he was only 6. Here's the one about the moment he knew his daughter, Bridget Fonda, could act: he was directing her in a 1985 European car commercial, and she grabbed the wheel and shook her head just so, and he was dumbstruck by her talent. Here's the one about how his dad, Henry Fonda, came home from filming the 1981 movie "On Golden Pond," still acting like his crotchety character, Norman Thayer Jr. "I said, 'Dad, I've got the perfect film for you'," Peter recounts. "'You should play Santa Claus. It'd be good for the whole family.' He looked at me funny. Then he said, 'Oh, I get it. So I'd come back and say ho-ho-ho and give everybody presents'."
Fonda hasn't strayed as far off the subject of"Ulee's Gold" as it might seem. The film is his chance to unpack some family baggage and put it to brilliant use. Ulee Jackson is a Florida beekeeper whose family trials and shattered past have left him a walking tragedy (review). Fonda achieves a subtle miracle: he brings to life a man who's virtually out of life, etching him in passions so deeply buried they barely flicker across his face. Not since Easy Rider has he connected so emphatically with a role. And despite a career pocketed with cult oddities (1966's "The Wild Angels"), near misses (1971's "The Hired Hand") and genuine bloopers (1979's "Wanda Nevada"), audiences seem ready to reconnect with him. Director Victor Nunez recalls a moment during filming when a woman recognized Fonda and ran home to get her video copy of "Tammy and the Doctor," his 1963 debut. "You realize he's not just the art film or the specialized filmgoer's actor," Nufiez says. "He's like a country singer who had a couple of top-10 hits a few years ago, and he's still loved."
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Fonda's an intersection. He's a cowboy with aristocratic bearing, a hippie radical who now preaches the benefits of drinking water "room temperature," he stresses, "otherwise your body has to heat it up to 98.6 degrees to absorb it." For all the stories he tells, very few are about himself. He says that growing up, he wanted to be a musician. "I learned trumpet, standup bass, harmonica. I wanted to be the Everly Brothers. I wanted both voices to come out of my one mouth." At 19 he chose acting, and spent years in his father's shadow, vehemently rebelling to get out.
Nowadays Fonda lives in Montana with his second wife, Becky; they've been married 22 years. He gushes about his kids: Bridget, 33; Justin, 30, and Tom, 29. He knows critics are comparing his performance in "Ulee's Gold" to his father's work, and he takes it as a compliment. After years of struggle, he's finally content with being Peter. "All these things together made this life I have," he says. "That's something I created. It's got its own energy now. And it gave me the ability to play this part." At last: he plays the part, instead of the part playing him.
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