Hey, folks, Slash Film caught an interesting update on the 9 TO 5 sequel we reported back in February as in the works. There are a few spoilers here about the fate of Consolidated, the company the three women vastly improved without their sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot of a boss around.
Executive Producer Jane Fonda, speaking at a Television Critics Association airing of the HBO documentary JANE FONDA IN FIVE ACTS, gave a little peek into the original company's status in the modern world:
I’m sorry to say the situation is worse today and I’ll tell you why... back in the day, the company was called Consolidated, which it still is. You worked for the company, if you had problems you went to the company. Today, a lot of the company is hired outside and subcontracted back to Consolidated. Who do you go to? Who do you complain to? Who do you fight with?
I love how Fonda is calling out the way personnel restructuring (see OFFICE SPACE) is being used as a shell game to make complaints easier for corporations to quietly quell.
The article gets into some rumors about how the film may be structured, which are pretty much the way I had hoped it would turn out, taking no relevance from the original three and their story, but allowing a new generation to deal with the same difficulties of sexism, double standards, and sexual harassment. And Fonda seems well aware of the effect #TimesUp is having on corporate culture, and seems to indicate that Rashida Jones and original screenwriter Pat Resnick (who are currently crafting the script together) do, too.
Fonda also seems to have a firm stance on making sure that the themes that made it so good the first time will remain in place. "If they’re not, I’m not going to be in it."
9 TO 5 is on my list of all-time favorites. It still tickles me to see murder-your-boss fantasies crafted earnestly into a comedy of errors. There's so much to love, from the trio getting high together and cleaning our a refrigerator, to the moment their fantasies come dangerously to life, to the change they bring to the office.
Read the Slash Films article here!
-- Precious Roy
