When the live auction bidding temporarily stalled at the Atlanta premiere of Jane Fonda‘s new film, “Peace, Love & Misunderstanding” at Symphony Hall Tuesday night, the two-time Oscar winner and Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention founder took to the microphone herself. On the auction block at the G-CAPP fundraiser: A five-day stay at Fonda’s ex-hubby Ted Turner‘s 100,000-plus acre Flying D Ranch in Montana. “I know a lot about this one!” cracked Fonda as the crowd roared. “Visiting this ranch is like visiting Africa. It’s bigger than metro Los Angeles. Oh, and it’s got a beautiful guest house that I decorated!” The trip ended up fetching $14,500. The CNN founder’s name also popped up when Fonda helped to auction off a 2012 trip to the Grammys, complete with an introduction to the now-Los Angeles resident’s personal hairstylist and a hike with the Hollywood icon up to the Hollywood sign. “But it’s not a bad hike,” Fonda explained. “Ted would do it!” The trip went for $18,000.
The former Atlantan’s return to town served as a sneak peek for her charming and funny new comedy “Peace, Love and Misunderstanding” where Fonda plays perhaps the world’s sexiest silver-haired hippie grandmother (in one notable scene, the worked out Fonda, 73, climbs up on a rock on location in upstate New York to counsel her granddaughter, played by Marissa O’Donnell, while completely rocking a pair of skinny, strategically ripped jeans!). But Fonda was all about raising awareness and money to prevent teen pregnancy — on-screen and off. “Hope is our best contraceptive,” Fonda told the crowd. “It’s not easy working on an issue like this in a state like this. Back in 1995 when we started G-CAPP, there were certain counties in Georgia that wouldn’t let us in. Now, they’re begging us to come in to help. I’m blown away and so proud of what we’re doing.” In a wry nod to her work with teens in Georgia, in one scene in “Peace,” Fonda pointedly asks her teen grandson (played by Nat Wolff) who is crushing on Tara (played by Marissa O’Donnell) a girl at the local coffee shop: “Do you carry a condom?”
Outside the Woodruff Arts Center, the hand-painted Free Love hippie bus used in the film was parked in the driveway and available for photo ops with attendees. In the lobby, one of Grace’s trademark flowing skirts (Fonda’s free-spirited character in “Peace”) was on display. Wolff and O’Donnell flew into Atlanta, along with co-star Rosanna Arquette and “Peace” producer Claude Dal Farra to reunite with the Oscar winner onstage. Fonda also hinted at her next acting project set for 2012 when she auctioned off a walk on role in the project. “It’s something I’ve never done before and it’s very funny,” she previewed. “This is a big deal. The three main people in this will probably be nominated. In a couple of months, you’ll know what it is.” Bear in mind, Fonda’s past co-stars have included the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez, Wanda Sykes and Felicity Huffman. The walk on role went for $13,500, including dinner and an acting lesson with Fonda. “And cocktails!” joked Jane. “Lots and lots of cocktails!”
