'Georgia Rule' stars are a happy 'family'

NEW YORK — Between clenching Lindsay Lohan in a tight, tearful hug and congratulating Felicity Huffman on a successful TV interview, Jane Fonda breaks into song.

"We are family!" sings the actress.

Indeed, they are, on screen at least. Fonda, Lohan and Huffman make up their own a dysfunctional clan in the drama "Georgia Rule," from "Pretty Woman's" Garry Marshall. The film stars Lohan in her first truly adult role, as a rebellious hellion dumped by her mom (Huffman) to live with her take-no-prisoners grandmother Georgia (Fonda).

And despite reports of Oscar-worthy drama from last summer's set — fueled in large part by the now-infamous letter sent to Lohan, 20, by the studio head castigating her for being late and unprofessional — the women are warm toward one another, with Fonda, 69, appearing protective and proud of Lohan.

Before their only interview together as a trio, they take a few minutes to catch up. Fonda praises triathlon runner Huffman's toned body and admires Lohan's lightened hair, while Lohan approves of Huffman's new, oversize shades, declaring that "sunglasses are so important."

Lohan learned one key lesson from spending last summer playing Fonda's defiant granddaughter: "To be on time," asserts Fonda, with a half smile.

"Seriously!" says Lohan, the first of the three to turn up for the photo shoot earlier that afternoon.

Before long, they get more thoughtful, even pensive. Lohan turns to Fonda: "The way you interact with people, especially men, is amazing to watch. It's really cool to see someone so comfortable with themselves."

"Georgia Rule" is a landmark of sorts for its stars. For Lohan, a freckled former Disney cutie, it's a venture into starkly grown-up territory playing a victim of sexual abuse. For Huffman, best-known as Lynette on ABC's "Desperate Housewives," it's the follow-up to her Oscar-nominated turn in 2005's "Transamerica." And for Fonda, it's her second film after a self-imposed 15-year retirement.

Fonda, who saw "Georgia Rule" at a screening at home in Atlanta, found sitting through the movie draining. She searches for a Kleenex and finding none, dabs at her eyes with the tablecloth.

"I get so emotional when I see this movie because I work with girls who have been abused. And I know how the abuse makes them act out," says Fonda, who works to prevent teen pregnancy in Georgia.

Lohan tears up and wipes her mascaraed eyes when Fonda lauds Lohan's mature and emotional performance and "how able she is to access the stuff inside her."