Title: Why the devil in
Jack makes him carry on... RAISING HELL; The owner of
the most devilish grin in
Date: 3/7/1998; Publication:
SUPERSTAR Jack Nicholson stands fair and square before me in his exquisitely-latticed moccasin shoes.
Astonishingly, for a man who'll be 61 on April 22, he still looks every inch the human Molotov Cocktail who has been driving women crazy for years.
Now in his fourth decade at the top, he remains the epitome of
Some of his more fanciful words, spoken in that famous, nicotine-roughened
But when big Jack readily warms to the notion that he's still a sex symbol -
"It's a little bit more exciting in the evening than it is in the
morning," he breathes - you can't help but share the reality of his
A one-time assistant in MGM's cartoon department while he found a way to work in front of the camera, he's one of the last of the golden greats - a heady mixture of fire and cool, charm and sophistication all wrapped up in an incredible sense of timing.
Jack's private life is suitably complex - and compelling. He was born in
Neptune, an East coast city south of
Now, he is a grandfather to two-year-old Sean thanks to Jennifer, the sole product of his only marriage - to actress Sandra Knight.
After 17 years with actress Angelica Huston, he now has two more children
In the flesh, he has the stout build of a retired colonel, yet here is a man who is clearly teetering... on the edge of true greatness.
Only Katharine Hepburn now stands between him and the chance to be recognised as arguably the leading film star of them all.
THE first lady of films managed a record 13 Oscar nominations in a glittering career which spanned 48 years between her first and last notice.
But since Jack argues that you can't be accused of losing an Academy Award if you don't win, his 11 nominations put him a firm second in the alime honours list ahead of Bette Davies and Laurence Olivier with ten each.
I thanks to his latest brilliant film As Good As It Gets, Jack follows his role in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest to win a second best actor award - to add to his best supporting role in A Few Good Men - he'll join the real elite band of stars who have won at least three Oscars.
Only Hepburn hersel with four, and Ingrid Bergman and 30s star Walter Brennan with three each - and all for supporting roles in his case - currently stand ahead of big Jack. Living male stars stuck on two include Dustin Hoffman - also nominated this year - Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Jack Lemmon and Tom Hanks, while actresses include Meryl Streep, Elizabeth Taylor and Jodie Foster.
And only a handful of other male stars have ever won best actor and best supporting actor awards, including De Niro, Lemmon and Gene Hackman.
Whichever way you look at the star, he's one of the few people on earth who deserves the tag: 'Living Legend'. And he certainly has the selonfidence to carry it.
"Most directors would be interested in working with me because I play the character in the part," he tells me.
"I'm a solution rather than a problem for a director. I pride myself on being 'low maintenance'."
In As Good As It Gets - directed by James L Brookes who made Terms Of Endearment - Jack plays Melvyn, an acid-tongued romantic novelist who suffers from an obsessive, compulsive disorder.
It would not be unreasonable to assume that any selespecting movie giant would have similar tendencies.
But Jack will have none of it. Ask him if he's got any funny rituals, and he says: "I carry my own ash tray. I keep a nice neat room and so on... I'm a regular guy.
"I would like to take credit for this part, but it's down to the creator and the script - Jim's the best writer I know.
"I would just do it and he would photograph it. Since it's not a straight drama, he didn't always want a straight performance. He'd say things like: 'That's too privileged for the scene' or 'Too much disease!'."
With his amazing track record, Jack, has always been able to pick and choose his parts for a long time - within the usual constraints.
Devil himself
"I can't be 30-years-old any more and yet this is the king of the movie going audience. And I don't want to play the judge - because he doesn't have the
devil in him.
"I did (the 1992 Teamster movie)Hoffa because I'm a labour sort of guy. I pick when I want to work and do the best movie I can become involved in and, if the script is good, your part is good.
"I get a regular spectrum of offers given my years."
Surely he must love the devilish parts best of all, though, like he had in Batman and The Shining? "I am the devil himsel" he says, eyebrows almost taking of his eyes piercing mine like laser beams.
It's an incredible experience. I wonder... would he ever be capable of being as rude as Melvyn?
"I rather jump from immaculately polite to violent! There's not much rudeness in between...
"Rude is for amateurs," he adds, conjuring up another instantly memorable phrase.
"But one reason I like working with Jim is that I can call him a s*** and know that it won't harm our relat- ionship."
Does he ever see his old movies, particular the horror trips with Roger Corman?
"Occasionally I do. I'm either appalled or once again in love with mysel but the Corman films... those I never watch, and I recommend that nobody else does either!
"They were just sci-fi movies which didn't need to have a big name in."
Of his technique now that he's a star, he explains: "When I'm acting, I like to think that I'm right here, but you can't see me. That's what's achieved by the job.
"You get to invent a lot of things inside an acting situation which you might never become conversant with."
The use of accents in films is, he believes, a sort of process of selggrandisement.
"The text sounds the same when it comes from the same person. I
couldn't tell the difference between Tooting and
"Ten years ago, no English actors could do an American accent, now they all can. Amanda Richardson does American parts all the time and quite beautifully.
"Accents are like whistling to me, and I'm going towards Spencer Tracy. A lot of the parts I play carry the narrative.
"A lot of the time, I don't have the most interesting part, but I think that I am good at carrying the story. Melvyn was one of the best parts that I have ever been offered. I wanted to work, and this part came along."
GIVEN the numerous awards that Jack has won, how much importance does he attach to them?
"It's tremendous to see Greg Kinnear nominated for this film, because it helps you with your job and getting the parts is the first thing that you have to do.
"We won the Golden Globes when our film was actually released and in
the
"You have to get an audience to a picture and awards are a professional lever.
"Personally, I find it depends on what it was and who voted, but there's always a complementary feeling about it."
Surprisingly, perhaps, Jack says that his idea of heaven is to be Oscar nominated but know that you are NOT going to win.
"That way you can be very relaxed with a lot of people you don't get to see very often."
With Katharine Hepburn's Oscar record now in touching distance, I wonder if Jack harbours a secret desire to chase it and whether that was a motivation for pulling out all of the stops for this film.
"Jim says it is the first comedy part that I have ever had, but since I was funny in his other movie, I don't understand that.
"Comedy parts have never won at the Oscars, but, yes, it would be nice to win.
"But in answer to the other part of your question, no, I don't compete against women... and if I was going to choose to compete against any woman, I would not choose Katharine Hepburn!"
Sneaking around
Many stars complain about the pressures of publicity, but how does Jack handle fame these days?
"I went and posed down at a hotel today - just in case all of the photographers didn't get all of the pictures they wanted at all of the restaurants that I go to.
"But seriously, I am good at sneaking around actually. It doesn't intrude that much."
During his years in the business, Jack has worked with many of the great and the good - but who would he like to work with whose paths haven't crossed his own?
"With just two exceptions, I would like to work with all of the people who I've already worked with - and that's a very impressive list.
"In fact, there are more people I would like to work with again, than people who I haven't worked with.
"Bernardo Bertolucci and I were pals when we were 20, yet we've never worked together and we always bemoan the fact. And I wish that Billy Wilder had one more film left in him.
"But I'd be happy just to work every six or seven years if it meant just making amother film with Jim."
As for his talents at singing and playing the piano, he has an official complaint to make.
"Because I am always in character, they always make me out to be worse than I am!" he says.
"I don't rehearse. All the others do it for two weeks. I just say: 'Let's start dancing!'."
And, when Jack starts dancing, you can bet your life that everyone else does, too.
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