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The original stars of a beloved 1980 comedy are reunited in the documentary Still Working 9 to 5, making its debut today on VOD platforms including Prime Video, Apple TV and Google Play.
9 to 5 leads Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Dabney Coleman – in one of his final interviews before his passing in May – all take part in the film directed and produced by Camille Hardman and Gary Lane and executive produced by Larry Lane (Gary’s twin brother). The documentary examines the extraordinary success of the original comedy over 40 years ago, the issues it raised about sexism in the workplace and the gender pay gap and where we stand today as a country on these pressing questions.
“When the highest grossing comedy, 9 to 5, starring Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman and Lily Tomlin, exploded on screens in 1980, the laughs hid a serious message about inequality in the workplace,” notes a synopsis. “Still Working 9 to 5 explores what has and has not changed for working women over the last 40 years.”
Along with the main cast from the original, the documentary features new interviews with Allison Janney, who starred as Violet Newstead (the character Tomlin played in the film) in the Broadway musical adaptation of 9 to 5, and Rita Moreno, who played Newstead in a 9 to 5 sitcom spinoff that aired on ABC in the 1980s (in the sitcom, Jeffrey Tambor played the sexist Franklin Hart character embodied so memorably by Coleman in the big screen version).
“I believed then, and I believe now that every person deserves to be paid fairly for their work… no matter who they are,” says Dolly Parton (“Doralee Rhodes” in the original film). “I think this documentary [Still Working 9 to 5] shows that the struggle continues and that we all need to do our part to help make things better for everybody.”
Tomlin notes, “We’re still having this same conversation about equal pay. There’ve been incremental improvements, but it’s hard for a whole stratum of society to give up its power and its expectations.”
Fonda played Judy Bernly in the original comedy, who goes from timid to empowered as the story progresses. The two-time Oscar winner appeared with Tomlin at the L.A. premiere of the documentary in May, an event presented by the ERA Coalition. “I’m so glad that Still Working 9 to 5 highlights the Equal Rights Amendment,” Fonda said on that occasion, “and I hope you will take away from this evening a renewed commitment to the ERA.”
Deadline spoke with the filmmakers at SXSW in Austin, Texas in 2022, where the documentary made its world premiere. “We’re fans of 9 to 5,” the Lane brothers explained, adding that the documentary explores the origin story of the comedy, “like Lily [Tomlin] wanting to quit the picture before it even started, things like that. I think the fans are going to really enjoy it.”
Gary Lane added, “We wanted to document the life of 9 to 5 and then reaching out to [co-director] Camille Hardman, she really researched and found out there was a 9 to 5 organization that inspired the original film. Jane [Fonda] really spearheaded the movie because of the issues. So when Camille came on board, we kind of say ‘the fandom met the feminism,’ and it’s turned into the movie that we’ve got today.”
At SXSW, Hardman commented on the progress yet to be made on fairness in the workplace.
“I think there’s still a lot of things that we do have to change,” she said. “There’s maternity leave, which I think should be actually family leave because it needs to be equal between men and women. A lack of promotions — I think there still needs to be a huge amount of promotions for women to reach equality and equal pay. And, also, we all know about sexual harassment. And that was one of the reasons why I wanted to do this film because it was right after #MeToo, and I knew that it was a poignant mixing of it and using 9 to 5 as a vehicle to tell that story of women in the workplace.”
The documentary has screened at film festivals around the world, winning the Audience Choice Award at the Nashville Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Women’s International Film Festival, and three awards at the Idyllwild International Film Festival including Best Documentary Feature and Best Director. Still Working 9 to 5 was named Best Feature Film at the Accolade Global Film Competition, and Best Documentary Feature at the Impact Docs Awards.
The documentary is directed and produced by Camille Hardman and Gary Lane. Executive producers include Larry Lane, Geralyn Dreyfous, Shane McAnally, Regina K. Scully, and Steve Summers.
Cinematography is by Brian Tweedt. The editing team includes Elisa Bonora, Oreet Rees, and Tyson Heder. A new version of the title song from 9 to 5 was recorded by Dolly Parton and Kelly Clarkson for the documentary (you can hear that below).
A “reimagined” remake of 9 to 5 is in the works, with Jennifer Aniston producing and Oscar winner Cody Diablo (Juno) writing.
