Jane Fonda The 'Monster-In-Law'

Much to the dismay of her many fans, it's been fifteen years since two-time Academy Award winner Jane Fonda has starred in a film.

That's all about to change, as Fonda returns to the big screen playing Jennifer Lopez's mother-in-law from hell in "Monster In Law."

Fonda plays Viola, a recently fired national news anchor who is afraid she will lose her son the way she has just lost her career. And so she is determined to scare off her son's new fiancé by becoming the world's worst mother-in-law.

In the film production notes, Fonda says she couldn't fully explain what motivated her to return to the big screen.

"I can't explain it, but I was ready and some vibe must have drifted into the atmosphere because people started calling my agent," she says. "I am a different person than I was 15 years ago and I was curious to see how that would read on screen and whether that would affect my work. Up until now, I hadn't really wanted to go back to work. I hadn't even thought about it."

Stay tuned Monday morning for Fonda's interview with The Early Show.

About Jane Fonda:

• Born in New York, N.Y. on Dec. 21, 1937
  The daughter of film legend Henry Fonda (and sister of Peter) parlayed the family name into a modeling career followed rapidly by a movie debut in "Tall Story" in 1960.
• In 1962, she was in Josh Logan's "Tall Story" and George Cukor's "The Chapman Report."
• In 1965, her title role in "Cat Ballou" confirmed her as a full-fledged Hollywood princess just as she was metamorphosing to the 60s sex kitten embodied in decadent French director and then-husband Roger Vadim's "Barbarella" in 1968.
• In 1966, Fonda showed glimpses of maturity in Arthur Penn's "The Chase," and added to her range in movies like Otto Preminger's "Hurry Sundown," also in 1966. And Gene Saks' adaptation of the Neil Simon play, "Barefoot in the Park," in 1967, opposite Robert Redford.
• By 1969, she was the hard-as-nails babe in Sydney Pollack's "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" Fonda helped make the compelling tale of a Depression era dance marathon an existential allegory of life with a riveting, unblinkingly fierce nihilism. She earned her first Best Actress Oscar nomination for the role.
• In 1971, Fonda building on her previous role and won a Best Actress Oscar for a complex study of an emotionally-unstable professional prostitute in Alan J Pakula's "Klute."
• In 1972, her visit to Hanoi in 1972 earned her the lasting enmity of the Right, who dubbed her with the moniker 'Hanoi Jane.'
• Following her revolutionary interlude, during which she dabbled in writing, directing and, for the first time, producing, Fonda returned to mainstream success with her portrayal of Lillian Hellman that was the firm but anxious center of the biopic "Julia" in 1976.
• In 1978, "California Suite" teamed her with Alan Alda, another scion of a showbiz family, and allowed the actress to show off her new exercise-fit body as a precursor to her reign as workout guru. "Coming Home," also in 1978, the first feature from her production company IPC, offered powerful insight into the effect of the Vietnam War on people at home and won her a second Best Actress Oscar. She was also becoming the 'Queen of the Exercise Video.'
• In 1979, IPC would produce "The China Syndrome" fortuitously released at a time when it could cash in on the hysteria over a nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island.
• Though she continued to advance a leftist agenda and second husband Tom Hayden's political career, she simultaneously produced successful films like "Coming Home" in 1978 and "9 to 5" in 1981. The zany comedy about working women grossed more than $100 million.
• She also finally got the chance to act with her father for the first time on film in "On Golden Pond," in 1981, which gave Henry Fonda a long overdue Best Actor Oscar and enabled dad and daughter to work out some things in their relationship for posterity, leaving nary a dry eye on the set or in the house.
• Also in 1981, she was in "Rollover," with Alan J Pakula as director. In 1985, she portrayed "Agnes of God," but it was in 1986 that "The Morning After," earned her another Best Actress Oscar nomination.
• In 1989, despite excellent performances from Fonda, Gregory Peck and Jimmy Smits, "Old Gringo" failed to find an audience.
• In 1991, she worked with Robert De Niro in the romantic drama "Stanley & Iris," which also proved disappointing.
• On Dec. 21, 1991, after marrying Ted Turner, Fonda retired from films, distancing herself from the Hollywood community. In January of 2000, she announced her separation from Turner.