Jane Fonda to Critic: 'Get a Life'

Jane Fonda is playing Nancy Reagan in Lee Daniels' The Butler this fall, and—thanks to her well-known liberal activism and the controversial pictures of her in Hanoi during the Vietnam War—some conservatives aren't happy about it. One Navy veteran started a "Boycott Hanoi Jane Playing Nancy Reagan" Facebook page—but to him and his ilk, Fonda says, "Get a life." In her view, "If he creates hoopla, it will cause more people to see the movie," she tells the Hollywood Reporter. She adds that a friend of hers actually met with the former first lady, and Reagan "was pleased that I was playing her."

"I might not have always agreed with Nancy Reagan, but I admire her, and I'd never try to insert my views when playing her," Fonda adds. But the vet, Larry Reyes, says Fonda's casting feels like a "middle finger" from Hollywood—and Ann Coulter agrees, telling the Reporter, "Do liberals hate Nancy Reagan that much?" The Reporter notes that all of the Republican presidents portrayed in the film are played by liberal actors: John Cusack (Richard Nixon), Robin Williams (Dwight Eisenhower), and Alan Rickman (Ronald Reagan).