Title: 'Let's Just Have Some Fun'.(Jack Nicholson at the Cannes Film Festival)(Brief Article)(Interview)

Date: 6/3/2002; Publication: Newsweek International;

A chat with Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson has been a Cannes Film Festival regular since he smuggled in reels of the then revolutionary movie "Easy Rider" in hatboxes back in 1969. This year he was back in the French town to celebrate the premiere in competition of "About Schmidt," the touching comedic drama by young director Alexander Payne that stars Nicholson as a retired insurance actuary in Omaha, Nebraska, who confronts the mistakes he's made in his life. During a press conference promoting the film in the Palais des Festivals last week, Nicholson regaled reporters, including NEWSWEEK's Dana Thomas, with stories about the old days at Cannes, his thoughts on Hollywood's new generation of directors and reflections on his long and extraordinary career as an actor, director and American icon. Excerpts from the session:

Can you talk about your special relationship with the Cannes Film Festival?

NICHOLSON: It does mean a lot to me, coming; smuggling films in and running around the Marche is where I met all the people I know in the film business. All of them are here now. They're a little bit grayer, but they are still here, still working, still stimulating. We had a great time when we came here with "Easy Rider." We were free to get loaded in those days, so the festival was a little more rockin' than it can be in the streets today. That was good. We don't have anybody here anymore who wears a tuxedo like Lucchino Visconti did, but we'll do the best we can, you know. But it's nice to be here. It's good to be here again. I have to get up earlier to walk the Croisette, but I still do it.

How do you keep Jack Nicholson out of the roles you play as an actor?

That's always the hard job for an actor, you know. Anyone can act once or twice--they don't know who you are. But then you have to unconvince them of who you are, like in "About Schmidt," [in which] Alexander asked me to play a small man. Every job is different, every character's different. That's what makes it interesting. Otherwise, you wouldn't keep doing it. You'd be doing the same thing over and over again. Nobody knows the real Jack anyway.

How was it to work with Alexander Payne? As a director yourself, do you let yourself be directed easily?

Alexander is a very firm director. He directs very specifically. I've always thought of myself as a good director's actor. But you're right. I know more than anyone else. I can't help it.

You always work with good directors. Do you find any differences with the new generation of directors?

I have the luxury of working with pretty much who I want to. People who have the same kind of sensibility. It's an inspiring way of life to work around people like this. They're after truth, and they're after attacking the conventional wisdom. When I first came to the Cannes Film Festival, you didn't have 7,000 television programs repeating the same thing over and over again. You didn't have talk shows that had a spin on every single social issue. You didn't have real people dying day and night on the screen. So the fashion and the style of moviemaking is always going to reflect what is not being seen in other ways--what is the stimulating point of departure in a work of art. Directors bring a vision. Their personal vision and artistry hopefully transmutes that into something beautiful.

What is the secret to a successful career in films?

I take a certain amount of pride in the fact that I don't play the same thing. If you get trapped in something--and most actors do get trapped by success--the tendency is to do it at least one more time. Then if they want to do a departure and it doesn't work, they're dead.

You have a great relationship with your fans and are very open and welcoming with them. Why?

I'm much more entertaining around a group of fans and you all than I am regularly because why be dull about it? You know what I mean? Why be pedantic and dull? Let's just have some fun in the end. I'd rather be amusing and that's it.

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