Klute

“She’s a dear human in my life, on every level. But Jane Fonda in Klute is extraordinary. She’s one of the great human beings on the planet. And I’ve known her since I’m 20, and I love her so much and love her in this film. And there’s a great interview with Jane on this, which is in the Collection, so that’s really exciting.”

“Klute, this is actually connected to the story we just finished telling. It's Jane Fonda's best Performance, she's so arresting in it. This was a really big inspiration in its lighting design for A Murder at the End of the World. I love Pakula so much because I feel like he's one of the few filmmakers that there's no ego. I admire him because I don't ever feel like his ego is involved in the filmmaking. He is using exactly the shots that need to be there to communicate the story correctly.”

“All right, my final pick. Sometimes I'm surprised at the films that I don't know. Right here, right where I'm standing, I see one of those films. I'm going to admit it to you right now and I'm going to take it: Klute. I haven't seen it. I am lucky to say I am friends with Jane Fonda and I've not seen Klute. How could I not do this? But I've only heard amazing things about Klute, and so this I'm just taking on full blind faith that this is going to be amazing. I got it, I got to do it.”

“Klute is one of the coolest movies. I remember watching this, I think I had my laptop and like a little external disc drive on the set of one of the Twilight movies... Donald Sutherland is like rushing in to save Jane Fonda and I'd get called to set and I would be like irrationally unhinged, like on edge and just like wanting to get back to my trailer. Yeah, wanting to get back to your trailer makes you sound like a dick, but you know when you're halfway through Klute, I think that's a good e...”

“All right, up next, we’ve got some Pakula, one of my favorites: Klute. So when I was writing one of my books, Catch and Kill, which is very much a Real Life set of events that involved surveillance and paranoia, I watched and thought about the screenplay to Klute a lot. I wanted to, in the writing, actually evoke what it’s like to be followed in a way that I think this movie does completely brilliantly. Jane Fonda is not a shrinking violet. Her performances always evoke a kind of strength.”

“Oh, Klute! Okay, this is one of my favorite movies of all time. The score is incredible in this movie. There are moments where it's so chilling that the hairs on your arm prickle up and you feel so much the point of view of Jane Fonda's character in this. There's the scene at the end where she's in peril and I can't watch that without my heart racing and my blood pressure going up. It is one of the most chilling scenes in all of cinema if you ask me.”

“Here’s Klute. This also is a friend, Ms. Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland. Donald Sutherland gave me my Oscar. She was moving, heartbreaking, brilliant in this movie. Scary movie. Yeah. That’s really quite extraordinary.”

“Klute, Alan J. Pakula. This is very morally ambiguous. Jane Fonda gives, I think, the Performance of her career. And it’s disturbing and unsettling, and the way it’s framed, it makes you a voyeur. Sometimes the screen will be... There’ll be a big wide screen and half of the screen will be black and the other half will be black and it’s just a narrow gap in a doorway that you’re looking through. Plays the whole scene like that. It takes real confidence... It actually serves the narrative.”

“Here’s another great choice here: Klute. As far as cinematography goes, this is a Gordon Willis project. This guy loves to, you know, keep the fill side real dark. He’s just a master at low-light photography, was, and is a big inspiration for me. You kind of have to watch the stuff I do at night and on your bigger screen, so it’s his fault. Send your letters to him. Alan Pakula is one of our great directors of the past.”

“Oh, and close by is Klute, another classic. Another extraordinary fashion movie.”

“This is, you know, how I discovered Klute. The cinematography was so unique and it looked all like a photograph and the performances and it was so quiet. Someone can feel so much in such silent type of Performance and this movie started my passion and awakened my love for film noir. I wish we did more film noir stylistic type of movies. We don't have enough, so if you've never seen this movie, incredible. Also this director does amazing other movies so you should watch.”