The Hollywood Reporter - 21.08.2019

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 34 AUGUST 21, 2019

FONDA: AUSTIN HARGRAVE.

EASY

: SUSAN WOOD/GETTY IMAGES.

WILD

: AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES/PHOTOFEST. CORMAN: MICHAEL TULLBERG/GETTY IMAGES.

‘It’s a Little Bit Unusual to

Be Simply a Good Guy’

I

t was the mid-1960s, the beginnings of the coun-

terculture, and I had decided to make a movie about

Hell’s Angels. They were in the headlines and to

me they were something new and different in American

society. I talked to a number of people for the part, but I

chose Peter for two reasons. One, he was a very good actor.

And two, he could ride a motorcycle. I wanted all the actors

who played Angels to be able to ride the bike. I wanted to be

able to photograph the actors while they were riding with

a camera in a car alongside. A couple of the actors I talked

to said they couldn’t do that or wouldn’t. But Peter said,

“Well, I can ride a bike,” and he got the part.

He was wonderful to work with. He understood the role

from the beginning. I would shoot movies in three weeks,

so there wasn’t a lot of directing on the set. What I’d do is

discuss the role with the actor in depth before — the moti-

vations and so on — and Peter understood the role and

came up with a number of ideas of his own. The cast of that

movie was a combination of actors — Peter, Bruce Dern

and a couple of others — and actual Angels, who played all

the other roles. Peter got along with them very well. I think

one time Bruce got in a little trouble when he took one of

the biker jackets home with him and brought it back the

next morning. The Angels had a little discussion with him

and told him he shouldn’t do that.

The next picture I made with Peter was a

year later, The Trip. It was about a director of

commercials who finishes shooting for the

day and goes out and takes LSD. Jack Nicholson

wrote the script, and that’s where Jack and

Peter first met, on the set of The Trip. It was my idea, but I

took it to Jack to write it because, wanting to be authentic,

I knew Jack understood the LSD movement. In fact, being

a conscientious director, I took LSD too. I figured I can’t

direct this movie if I don’t know what I’m doing. And I had

a wonderful trip, but Jack and Peter both had had a couple

of bad trips, so we put all those trips together for the film.

Peter wasn’t the traditional Robert Taylor or Rock

Hudson sort of leading man. He was a good-looking guy

but he had this inner feeling to him that was different.

There was a bit of his father in him, but he was also deter-

mined to take a different path. He didn’t want to be a clone

of his father. Peter was basically a good guy. And the more I

travel through life, the more I realize it’s a little bit unusual

to be simply a good guy. — AS TOLD TO BENJAMIN SVETKEY

Roger Corman

Director, The Wild Angels and The Trip

Toni Basil

Actress, Easy Rider

Victor Nuñez

Director, Ulee’s Gold

Peter Fonda

Roger Corman and others remember

the Easy Rider actor-producer

and counterculture icon, who died

Aug. 16 at age 79

H

e was so sweet, so laid-back, so drop-dead beautiful. He

was this ultimate movie star — he didn’t act like it, but

he looked like it. He had such a gentle nature. You didn’t

get this crazy ambitious feel from him, which is maybe part of the

reason people didn’t know him for being as extraordinary as he

was. When you grow up in that kind of mega family you have a dif-

ferent approach to the business. As much turmoil as he had in his

younger years, it gave him insight into the business that enabled

him to have a big picture of the whole Hollywood scene. It meant

something different to him. He had seen people come and go. He

took a different journey than any of us. — AS TOLD TO SUSAN KING

‘HE TOOK A DIFFERENT JOURNEY’

Toni Basil and Fonda in

1969’s Easy Rider.

Tribute

1940-2019

‘HE COULD EVEN CHARM THE BEES’

A

t one point I was
thinking about
Nick Nolte to play
[the beekeeper], and then
I got a call in the middle
of the night. “This is Peter
Fonda.” I don’t know how
he got it, we never sent it
to him, but he said, “I’ve
just read your script and
that’s me. You know, my

Corman

dad was a beekeeper.” Turns

out Henry Fonda had two or

three hives in his backyard.

So I met with Peter — the

only time I’d ever had lunch

on the Sunset Strip — along

with four women from

Orion, which was involved

in the movie. There was

reluctance to cast him — he

had this image of a flaky

space cadet — but Peter sat

down and within minutes

had us eating out of his

hands. He was an inspira-

tion on the set. He did a lot

of scenes with real, swarm-

ing bees. Peter never got

stung. Which says some-

thing about him as an actor

— he could even charm

the bees. — AS TOLD TO B.S.

Left: Peter Fonda was photographed Feb. 11, 2016,

at Roger Corman’s home in Santa Monica.

Above (from left): Corman with Bruce Dern and

Fonda on the set of 1966’s The Wild Angels.