- We've got a great show for you all today.
I'm very stoked.
Take a look at my audience, first of all.
Everyone is holding a copy of their favorite book.
I love this show.
That's because today we are continuing
my Stranger Reads initiative.
♪ Stranger reads ♪
(audience applauds and cheers)
The idea is very simple.
Sometimes your best book recommendations
can come from people outside your circle.
Later in the show we'll all exchange books, which I love
and I'm eager to hear what you all brought.
I hope I haven't read any of them.
But first, today's show is also full of amazing women
who have wildly successful careers
spanning many years and including many Academy awards.
Together they star in a new movie
"Book Club: The Next Chapter",
it's in theaters tomorrow everybody.
And our book club with them is already in session,
right over here.
(audience cheers and applauds)
Everybody say hello to Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen,
Diane Keaton,
and Mary Steenburgen.
(band jamming)
Hello ladies!
I'm very excited to see you again.
- I'm so happy to see you again, Kelly.
- And I'm excited to see you in person,
not on Zoom, Mary. - I know, me too.
- This is you in person and welcome ladies to the show.
I'm a big fan, obviously, that's an understatement.
- (chuckles) And we are fans of yours.
- Oh, thank you, thank you - Fans of yours, Kelly.
- Well, I'm gonna talk about this 'cause it's in the movie.
So let's dive right in.
In the movie you read "The Alchemist"
which we all have a copy of.
I've read this, I actually love it.
So in the story, the character though
learns what he was seeking
was actually back where he started all along,
which I love that.
So what does that mean to you, Mary?
- Well, I came from Arkansas and the more places I go,
the more I realize that at the very core of me,
I had it all as a child with parents that loved me
and a community that loved me.
And it's a great place to come from and,
but the book also talks about
never losing your sense of adventure
and that getting lost isn't necessarily a bad thing in life.
That it's all part of the adventure.
- I love getting lost sometimes.
I'm literally about to take a vacation.
I was like, "I don't wanna plan a thing."
I just like going somewhere
and just seeing where it takes you.
What do you all feel like from the book?
Did you like the book "The Alchemist"?
Did you like the story?
The message? - Yeah, yeah.
I love this quote, TS Elliot.
It's a paraphrase.
"We spend our life exploring
"and at the end of our explorations,
"we come back to where we started
"and know it for the first time."
That's what you said. - Yeah.
Oh my God, I love that.
Well, Candace and Diane, do you agree?
- Yeah, absolutely. - Yeah, of course.
I mean, what else am I gonna do?
Duh.
- Yeah, it's funny though, I think when we're kids,
I'm from a small town and I remember I was like,
"I can't wait to get out.
"I just wanna do so much.
"I wanna see so much."
And it's funny now I live,
my main home is in a place smaller than where I grew up.
It's even smaller.
'Cause you realize how precious that was
to have space and you know your neighbors
and you know everybody in the community.
It's funny how that comes full circle.
Did you all experience that?
You're both from California, right?
- I'm from California and I don't know about her.
- You're from Beverly Hills I think, yeah, yeah.
- I am from Beverly Hills, yes.
- I know, fancy.
- She's from Beverly Hills.
- I know that's fancy.
- I was from Highland Park.
- You're from Highland? - That's right.
- Both fancy imperatively speaking.
We'll talk more about our favorite books later.
But it's also Mother's Day this Sunday.
So we wanna celebrate Mamas.
(audience cheers and applauds)
Mary?
Mary, do your kids celebrate with you?
Do you all do anything special?
- They do, but I'm a grandmother now,
so part of what I'm celebrating is my daughter Lily,
who's just an amazing mother herself.
And yeah, it's like the whole,
any excuse for our whole gang to just pile in.
Dogs, kids, babies, everybody.
It's wonderful.
- That is wonderful.
Especially as a grandma now, yeah.
- Yeah, I love being a grandmother.
It's so boring to say but it is the greatest
thing in the world. - I do too.
- I know, it's special.
It's different.
- We text each other grandmother photos all the time.
- It must be so odd too.
I have a six and eight year old,
but I can't, so obviously I can't imagine.
But to have your kids be mothers,
you know what I'm saying?
That's interesting.
That dynamic like being like, "Wait, you're mom too?"
That's just weird.
I can't look at my eight year old and go,
"I hope you do well."
Like, "I hope I did well enough."
What about you all?
What do you do, Diane? - Leave me out.
- You leave me out.
You're like, "I don't wanna celebrate Mother's Day."
- I'm just gonna sit here, I'm enjoying it.
- Okay, well I gave you wine.
I like this and--
- And I'm glad I have it.
- She's mildly inebriated. - I like this.
- I'm sorry I can't share with you, everyone.
(everyone laughs)
But I'm gonna drink up right now.
(audience cheers and applauds)
- We're gonna celebrate for you for Mother's Day.
Let's take a quick break.
Emma from our audience can help with that.
- Hi!
I'm so glad to be a part of your book club today.
The book I brought is "The Storied Life of AJ Fikry"
by Gabrielle Zevin.
It's all about how life can take unexpected turns
and shape you into a brand new person.
I loved it. (chuckles)
It made me laugh and it made me cry
and I recommend it to everyone.
More with Kelly, Jane, Candace, Mary and Diane
when we come back.
- We're back with the cast of "Book Club: The Next Chapter".
Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Diane Keaton
and Mary Steenburgen.
So Jane, tell us what happens in the movie.
- In the "Book Club: The New Chapter"?
- The one that we're - Yeah.
How much do I give away?
We decide, I love this movie so much.
We decide-- - Not the ending.
- That we're gonna go to Italy.
- I know.
Just always a good decision.
- Do I say why?
- Sure. - Oh yeah, sure.
Okay.
Me, what's my character's name?
(everyone laughs)
- Vivian. - Vivian.
- Do I have to do this? - So far my favorite name.
- She's gonna get married and believe it or not,
and so we decide to do a bachelorette party in Italy.
And so it's our adventures in--
- Italy. - In Italy.
And, eventually our lovers, our husbands or whoever they are
show up and and it's like, "Why do we need them?"
- Yeah. - 'Cause a lot there is us.
- I got to be with a Andy Garcia for few minutes.
So, it was really fun for me.
- Yes. - He had to kiss me too.
(everyone laughs) (audience cheers)
- She hated it.
She hated every second.
- I can't wait to meet all the men here.
(everyone laughs)
- Oh my God, I love you with a little wine, okay.
- Oh yeah. (everyone laughs)
- [Kelly] This is soft?
Okay.
Mary, did you get to do anything
besides work when you were in Italy?
Did you all get to do anything fun?
- Well, I took Ted dancing, so that was fun and--
- Never heard of him.
- And our dog Arthur, our 17 and a half year old puppy dog
and he was, and Ted kind of was everybody's plus one.
He took us all out to dinner and I mean,
it's the food is just,
and she made me get started on Aperol Spritzes,
which I don't think I'd ever had in my life.
And then I had to have one every night breaking my rule
of don't drink when you're working Mary Steenburgen,
that was out the window and--
- Doesn't count when you're in Italy, Mary.
- It didn't count.
And I had so much fun and I have no regrets.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
And you just say, "I'm going method."
That's what you say in that environment.
- I should have thought of that but.
- This is for my character art.
- Yeah, exactly.
- So the first time everyone here worked together
was the first "Book Club".
So Candace,
but you and Jane have known each other for a while, right?
- Hundreds of years. - Hundreds of years.
- Since I was 17.
- That's right. - Are you serious?
- My boyfriend had a crush on her, thank you very much.
And I guess he knew where she lived
and so he took me to her house and we rang the doorbell
and somebody opened it
and she at 17 was on the top of a ladder.
And I just remember looking up and thinking,
"Oh, I never wanna be around her again.
"This is the most beautiful human being
"I have ever seen in my life."
And plus she's brilliant
and she's written many books, speaking of books.
So we go back, we go back.
- We do. - Yeah.
- I love that kind of friendship
and then you get to work together.
That's cool. - Yeah.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Well, Mary, we've talked about your music in the past
which obviously you're on the right show for that.
So you wrote a song for this movie
that everybody sings at the end, right?
- That was my love song to them.
I truly love them.
And so in trying to write a song, I just thought,
"It's gotta be a love song to them."
And it's called "Anywhere With You".
And I wrote it with Caitlin Smith and Troy Verges
who you know of from Nashville.
- Yeah.
- And before we didn't have time to get you to sing it.
So we sang it.
The four of us sing it to each other.
- I think that's cooler that you all did it.
That's the coolest thing ever.
How did you all feel about singing it?
Was that good? - It was wonderful, yeah.
We love the song.
- I love you.
I rocked it. - Yeah.
(Kelly and Jane laugh)
I killed it.
So Diane, were you surprised that she was a songwriter?
Did you know that about Mary?
- I knew that she was, yeah, musically inclined
and did things like that.
But this is beautiful, this song.
- I just, I know-- - Did you hear it?
- I did and I knew of more musical skills by the way,
'cause I don't know if we're ready to pull this up
but I wanna pull it up 'cause it's my favorite thing
about this interview is you dancing on TikTok, you're a hit.
- Oh, oh. - I don't know.
I don't know if you-- (audience cheers and applauds)
- I am not a dancer. - I saw that yesterday.
- Because I'm an idiot. - Are you serious?
No, I am not kidding.
- I was just in my stupid--
- [Kelly] I'm not even being funny.
- Was it to Miley, "Flowers"?
I know it, I saw it. - Let's see it.
- It's so good. - Let's show it.
- What? - Okay, here we go.
♪ I can buy myself flowers ♪
♪ Write my name in the sand ♪
♪ Talk to myself for hours ♪
♪ Say things you don't understand ♪
♪ I can take myself dancing ♪
Get it! (audience cheers and applauds)
I love it, you're like not about it.
It's literally like, I didn't think I could love you more.
And I watched this and I was like,
the best part is you're like, "This looks like a good spot."
And then you go for it
and then you're like, "Maybe this spot."
And it's (chuckles).
That's literally me at my house.
I love dancing.
I own it all the time on this show.
When I'm home alone, I dance in my house
and I think, even in front of my kids, they think I'm nuts.
But I love dancing.
It looks like you feel good when you do it.
- I had a fun time, but I'm a moron.
- No you're not. - I am.
- No, I don't call that being a moron,
I call that feeling free
and vulnerable and awesome. - It was fun, yeah.
- Yeah. I love that video.
I was like, "We're showing it."
So--
- And her whole Instagram feed, it takes hours.
It's huge feed
and all of it is, she has one part that's doors.
It's just doors. - All about doors.
You don't wanna miss out on the doors.
(audience laughs)
- I'm not kidding.
You are blowing.
I don't even know if you know this
but you have blown up on TikTok.
Like literally-- - I have?
- Yes. - I have no idea.
And what is TikTok?
I don't even know what it is.
- I know I get it, but you are, it's insane.
Everybody's like, "Did you see the video?"
And I'm like, "I did.
"It's incredible."
I think it's, and first of all, I love doors.
What are they like different doors
all over the world? - Yeah. I like the doors, yes.
- Oh, I thought you meant like actual--
- No doors, yeah.
- I used to do that in Spain.
When I walked around in Spain I used to take pictures
'cause all the doors architecture--
- Because they're amazing.
Yeah, that's right.
- Yeah, and I'm obsessed with them.
- I'm right, see.
- We have so much in common and wine.
So the official title of the new movie is
"Book club: The Next Chapter".
So what's a chapter age in your life
that you're kind of glad that's over?
Mine's my twenties.
- Me too.
My youth.
- Yeah, yeah. - Yeah.
- It's wasted on youth, life--
- Really hard to be young.
- Yeah, my twenties were really difficult.
What about you all?
- I just remember on the oldest I've ever felt in my life
was my 30th birthday.
And it was just because I was sad.
There was a lot of stuff not great in my life.
And here I was, I just had my 70th birthday
and my 70th birthday was spent
recording that song with these guys
at Harvey Mason Jr. Studio.
- I love Harvey Mason.
And so that's what we did.
And if you had told me at 30, "On your 70th birthday
"you'll be recording a song that you wrote
"with three legends and you're all singing
"and they're your true friends in life.
"And I would've--"
- And they're your words.
- And they're my words along with my two co-writers.
I would've been blown away, but I didn't.
So the thing is
you don't know what your journey's gonna be.
You gotta say yes to stuff
that you might never dream you would ever do.
Don't give up. (audience applauds)
- Great. (audience cheers and applauds)
- Diane, what about you?
What was maybe in your life that you were like,
"That was really tough, I'm glad that's over."
- "Really tough, I'm glad it's over,"
every day I feel that way. (everyone laughs)
Kind of sad, not today obviously.
Except I have this.
And I'm not sharing it with anyone.
- Any day that didn't have that.
Candace what about you?
(Candace clears throat)
I was glad to get the young years out of the way.
And I think now is a good time and I'm 76, so
I'm hoping I have a little more of a clip to go.
- Yeah. Isn't it interesting though that you think, like
I remember in my twenties I was like,
"Okay, I gotta do everything.
"I gotta do everything, fit it all in."
And this is the time and it's like,
honestly now that I'm older,
I'm 40 and I'm like, I'm having more fun.
I'm smarter about things like wiser about my schedule.
I'm just, you know, you can say no
you know what I'm saying?
And things are still gonna be fine your career.
Like, it's interesting, I feel like with age
just comes wisdom for some not everyone,
but it's interesting though that the older you get
you're saying like, "I'm 76 now,"
and you're still like you're in this huge movie,
you're with friends doing it
and it's like things are still hitting on all cylinders.
And I think that's incredible.
- It's great.
I'm stunned and I'm thrilled.
- Yeah, me too.
That's what I was saying, like in 40
who would've thought I had a talk show?
Who would've thought my life would've taken this road?
I think it's interesting to say yes
to things that you would've never said yes to
and then you have no idea where that will take you.
I love that.
Well, Mary, you've said that "The Book Club" movies
help women avoid experiencing the diminishment plan.
So what exactly is that you think?
- I think there's this sort of collective agreement
as we get older that's very subconscious.
That we're just gonna, we agree to diminish ourselves.
And I just don't think you have to do that.
And I know there's hard things
and part of it's how well you take care of your body
and part of it's what you're dealing with in life.
But I also feel like you can fight it.
And Jane Fonda, for example,
would be an example of someone who just doesn't,
she refuses to be less vibrant as she ages,
actually is true of them all.
And-- - And you too.
- And me too.
I do try, I do care about that.
- There's a point that people get more vibrant.
- I think that's the whole idea.
You're still alive.
I was saying one day that my only regrets are
that my dad never met Ted.
I can't do anything about that because my dad's gone.
But my other regret was that
I didn't speak a foreign language.
And then I suddenly realized, "Well, you're still alive.
"You can actually."
So I've been studying French for two years, which I'm,
they all speak languages like up the wazu
and I'm not very fast at it, but I'm still doing it.
I do it every day.
- Because you can.
'Cause I think ageism is a real thing and people think that
once you pass a certain thing,
"Oh well that's your vocation.
"You've already chosen what you're gonna do for your life.
"You've already chosen that."
That's not true at all.
It can completely change
and you can try new things at any age.
And I think with more wisdom and more desire
and appreciation.
- I think women get braver when they get older.
- Absolutely. - Absolutely.
And 'cause you know, what the hell do we have to lose?
- Yeah. - Why not?
(audience applauds)
It's like the one thing, you know, when people ask you like,
"What would you tell your younger self?"
It's like, be braver.
Don't listen to the nonsense, the chaos
that says what you should be saying
or how you should be acting or all those things.
Do you agree about like just growing older
and you can become more vibrant and more interesting?
I think that's the case.
- Yeah, absolutely.
When I was a kid, I used to go into a party.
I was traumatized by just the experience of a lot of people.
And I would, ugh.
But now I'm just, I have a barn in Connecticut, I--
- Did you say a bar?
- Barn?
- I'm more interested in the bar.
- You should have a bar in your barn.
- [Diane] She should.
- I have a bar my barn. (chuckles)
There's no animals.
It's a party barn.
Diane, you'd love it.
- Yeah, count me in.
I mean, what the heck.
- So Diane, how have you been able to avoid diminishing
in your own lives?
I'll start with you.
How do you think you've avoided that?
- I've always had issues with diminishing.
- Really?
- I like to, yeah, I like to head out.
- It's so funny how we see ourselves.
- I'm afraid of people, like a lot of them.
- She's compulsively creative.
- Yeah. - She is.
- You think? - She is constantly creative.
Constantly.
Watching her on the set,
because we were on these amazing sets
and when you couldn't find her she was drifting off
taking photographs of some--
- Sorry, I didn't, swear to God, I was working hard.
- Yeah, she worked hard. (audience laughs)
- Because the part is-- - The director is right there.
- The director and the producer right there.
(audience cheers and applauds)
- I loved it.
How she's describing herself as kind of like,
you know when you see that kid,
the six year old playing baseball and he is just out there.
- [Mary] Yeah. That's her.
- That's me.
Thanks for nothing.
But it's true.
She's right. - I love that though.
I think that that keeps you young, constantly being creative
and constantly excited about a project.
I've always got so many projects going on,
not even in the limelight, just in life,
I like doing things.
I think that keeps you interesting
and excited about life.
- And engaged. - And productive.
- Yeah.
- And also it's so amazing
what you've done with your life.
Because the first time I saw you was on that show.
- Oh American Idol, yeah, yeah.
- Yes. I mean, my God.
And it's just-- - 20 years ago.
- It's so interesting.
- Yeah. And look, I'm more shocked than anyone
that it would work out. (everyone laughs)
I can promise you. (audience cheers and applauds)
I'm still shocked.