The accompaniment of the Austrian building contractor Richard "Mörtel" Lugner at the Vienna Opera Ball this year, for a change, is not much younger than him: the 90-year-old wants to bring Oscar winner Jane Fonda, who celebrated her 85th birthday in December.
"She's a great woman and has achieved a lot," Lugner enthused about the American actress at a press conference in Vienna on Thursday, according to the Austrian news agency APA.
The Vienna Opera Ball takes place on February 16th.
In the past two years he had failed due to the corona pandemic.
According to APA, Lugner said that after the Corona break, his dance coast was just as rusty as his English skills.
However, he does not yet know whether Fonda will dance with him.
There are still a few other unanswered questions.
"We still have to clarify a lot," admitted Lugner, according to APA.
He only knows that Fonda has already been to Vienna and is interested in art.
"She comes in threes, but we don't know who the others are," added the entrepreneur.
Her arrival date has not yet been determined.
The daughter of film star Henry Fonda and sister of Peter Fonda, she is known for films such as Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978), for which she won an Oscar.
She also became known for her commitment against the Vietnam War and her fitness programs.
Most recently, she has increasingly devoted herself to climate protection.
Lugner has been bringing prominent guests of honor to the opera ball every year since 1992 and allows them to pay quite a bit for it.
His companions included actresses Melanie Griffith, Sophia Loren, Pamela Anderson and Goldie Hawn, as well as hotel heiress Paris Hilton.
Dieter Bohlen was once his ball guest.
TV star Kim Kardashian turned out to be a letdown for Lugner.
She literally ignored her host in 2014 and spent just ten minutes with him throughout the opera ball.
Lugner's last ball guest before the social event was canceled due to the pandemic in 2020 was the Italian actress Ornella Muti, who stood in for the former American ski racer Lindsey Vonn.