[music]
>>Peter Fonda: My mom was uh
a lone person, a person who
as far as I know, and I know very little
relied totally on how she was perceived by her friends
and not by her self and her inner self
and at 36 she felt that she was losing her beauty
so she pulled the plug.
>>Q: You were 10 when your mom committed suicide?
>>Yes, but when I was 10, she died of a heart attack.
>>You didn't know the real reason.
>>Right. When I was 15, I learned she committed suicide.
When I was 20, I learned she committed suicide in a mental institution.
When I was 22, I learned how she did it
so that makes 4 times she died for me.
It's a remarkable woman that can pull it off four times
and each time was a blindside to me.
>>Shortly after your mother committed suicide
you accidentally shot yourself?
>>Oh yes, and the rest of the family thought that uh that was
uh me reacting to my mother's suicide
having forgotten that they told me she died of a heart attack [laughs]
uh it was a simple shooting accident
but my family read it as
a disturbed act of a young man who
didn't have a firm grasp on life
albeit once the bullet entered my liver, my stomach, and my kidney
my firm grasp began to
become infirm immediately.
>>Who did you blame? Who did you think set up a
I know you felt as though there was a conspiracy
to hide the truth from you about your mother. Who did you blame?
>>The whole family
>>Why did the family not want you to know?
>>I suppose, for the best of reasons, that they felt it was better that I don't.
They just could not bring themselves out
of the conspiratorial attitude
plus I don't think they wanted to admit
to their own feelings or what they perceived to be their own feelings
which may not have been feelings for them at all.
>>Were you angry, what, with your father?
>>No, I couldn't afford to be angry with my father
>>Why? >>He's my only living parent.
I was determined to make contact with him to
determined to make contact with the stoic, very quiet, mid-western soul
of course, the weaker he got, the less he could fight me off
you know, he would turn away and I would just move around to where he turned away
and keep on talking just like a camera on a dolly
you couldn't miss me.
The last thing he said to me
the last full sentence he spoke
was 'I love you very much son'
How could I be angry with that man?
>>How is this family that you're in now different from the one you were born into?
>>The family I have created for myself is my true family.
I hope in the making of the picture with my sister
that we plan to do called [indistinct] money
that we will become closer and become a true family.
I think that uh
we both want that same thing.
We're both producing and we're both acting in that film.
>>I bet you and Jane have a ball talking politics.
>>We never talk politics.
>>No? >>No, we don't even talk film yet.
>>You talk anything?
>>Yeah >>Yeah?
>>Why did you say that in the press, Peter?
Huh, which one?
Uh we talk all the time, we sing songs together even
>>What's your favorite song to sing together?
>>Dream by the Everly Brothers
We love to sing Dream.
I'll be forty-five on February twenty-third 1985
and I'm still wondering, what do I want to be?
Do I wanna direct? Do I wanna act?
Do I wanna produce?
Do I wanna write? Which one...?
Maybe I wanna really just carry camera, haul cable, you know
5, 6 and 11
Maybe walk and talk is not enough for me.
>>How do you see yourself?
Do you see yourself as a real renaissance man or an adventurer?
>>An out-of-work actor
[subdued laughter]
You might find it funny but I don't find it funny at all.
>>[laughing] Peter, I think you'll be working for a long time.
>>Well, I made 30 films in the last 20 years
or 24 years, so that survival
does have something to do with this industry, I will admit that
however at the moment, that's how I see myself, an out of work actor.