Anne Archer targets Fringe with Fonda play

HOLLYWOOD star Anne Archer is the first big-name actor to be confirmed for this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Anne Archer will play Jane Fonda. Picture: AP

The star of Fatal Attraction, Patriot Games and Short Cuts will be stepping into the shoes of another star of stage and screen for her debut at the world’s biggest arts festival.

Los Angeles-born Archer, 66, will play New Yorker Jane Fonda in the world premiere of a play which tackles her long-standing opposition to the Vietnam War and the ill-feeling her opposition to the conflict stirred up for years.

The show, to be staged at the Assembly Rooms on George Street, will be writtend and directed by Archer’s husband, Emmy award-winner Terry Jastrow.

The Trial of Jane Fonda explores what happened when she confronted Vietnam veterans intent on picketing production of the 1988 film Stanley and Iris, which she starred in with Robert De Niro.

Jastrow is said to have retraced Fonda’s steps from a controversial 1972 campaign visit to Hanoi, in Vietnam. Fonda, now 76, has been interviewed several times by Jastrow, who also claims to have spoken to dozens of veterans of the war to “ensure balance, accuracy and authenticity.”

A spokeswoman for The Trial of Jane Fonda said: “It is important to note that while Ms. Fonda has contributed time and information to ensure her story is told accurately, she has no creative input or veto power, has never read or seen the play, and has no participation in ownership or proceeds from the production.”

Tickets for The Trial of Jane Fonda, which will run for the entire Fringe, are on sale now.