JACK NICHOLSON - THE LONE WOLF IS TIRED OF THE
CHASE
____________________________________________________
by Jan Janssen
NEW YORK - For most of his adult life, Jack Nicholson
has been a champion seducer of women. His
irreverance, his innate sense of rebellion, and his
taste for the wild side of life have made him
irresistable to several generations of women. That's
why it may come as something of a shock to learn that
Jack has now grown tired of the chase. At age 66, the
leader of the wolf pack admits that he's no longer at
the top of his (seduction) game.
"I am not going to sit here and pretend I haven't been
a rogue most of my life because I have," he says,
puffing on a cigarette in a non-smoking suite of New
York's toney Waldorf Hotel. "And I would still be if
I had the energy for it. But right now I just can't
do the dance."
"I sat in the hotel lobby the other night realizing I
could have romanced 2,000 women who were walking in
and out of the hotel. They were of every age, alone
and in pairs. Some were there with their mothers. I
don't know how far I could have gone with them, but I
know I could have gone somewhere. I actually told one
woman: 'Sorry, honey, I just can't do the dance
anymore,' which is the truth. If I'm going to make the
effort, they've got to be a really good dancer."
(Laughs)
Wearing a chic copper-toned velvet jacket, checked
shirt, and beige tie, Nicholson is chain-smoking his
way through our interview which is geared to the
release of his latest movie, SOMETHING's GOTTA GIVE, a
romantic comedy in which he co-stars with Diane
Keaton, Amanda Peet, and Keanu Reeves. Jack plays
Harry Langer, a wealthy business executive and
confirmed bachelor whose fear of intimacy and
commitment has led him to adopt a policy whereby he
only dates women under 30.
His plan proceeds worry-free until he suffers a mild
heart attack and winds up recuperating at the
Hampton's beach house belonging to the mother
(Keaton) of his latest trophy girlfriend (Peet). To
his perplexed dismay, Harry winds up falling in love
with the mother who is also being courted by a
handsome younger doctor (Keanu Reeves). The film's
director, Nancy Meyers, wrote SOMETHING's GOTTA GIVE
specifically with Nicholson in mind, taking advantage
of his reputation as a free-spirited commitment-phobic
lady's man. It's a measure of Nicholson's continuing
appeal that both Keaton and Peet were both
romantically linked with Nicholson during the filming
(although both deny it). Nevertheless, the stunningly
beautiful Peet has nothing but high praise for Jack's
sex appeal:
"I would have to say that Jack is pretty sexy," said
Peet. "And what if it was, say a factory worker who
looked like Nicholson? Well, Jack's got whatever it is
which makes him so irresistable no matter what he
would be doing for a living. The whatever is the
thing which makes him very attractive."
Interestingly, despite his Lothario-like reputation,
the following interview will show that Nicholson
maintains that he is anything but afraid of intimacy
and commitment, and even admits to a certain strange
sense of loneliness at this point in his life. It's
the most vulnerable Nicholson we've ever witnessed,
and shows how deeply ambivalent the man is about aging
and a certain diminution of his once healthy lust for
life.
THE INTERVIEW
Q: This film derives some of its intrigue by drawing
on your highly public reputation as a ladies's man.
What's the truth behind that?
NICHOLSON: I am a rogue, but what's saved me is that
I've always been very discriminating -- always. I'm
easy to get to if it's real. If it's not, I'm
impossible to get to. I was never a one-night stand
guy, I was never a player like that. I've always
valued a woman's company and I've always valued a
relationship that's meaningful. I've always been
someone who is romantic and sentimental when it comes
to women. It's in my blood.
Q: You mean there were never times in your life when
you weren't a serial seducer of some kind?
NICHOLSON: Oh, I did go through long stretches
particularly in the seventies when I felt like a huge
amount of anxiety if I didn't have a woman in my bed.
I hated to sleep alone and I rarely did. I mean, early
on, if I was alone for three nights in a row, I
started writing poems about suicide. That's how bad I
felt.
Now I'm getting used to the idea and even though in
one way it's very liberating not to feel this urge or
need to be with someone, it's also worrying in a way
that maybe some of the fire's gone out of my system.
It's something that I'm adapting to. But now I really
enjoy it my time alone. I don't prefer it, but I enjoy
it.
Q: Harry, your character in SOMETHING's GOTTA GIVE is
afraid of commitment. Is there any similarity to your
own attitude towards women?
NICHOLSON: No, no. I commit like a freight train and
always have, which is something which throws people
who don't know me. I've never been the kind of guy who
"dates" women in the traditional fashion. In this way
you can call me a little weird. When it comes to
relationships, I'm kind of a nervous guy. I don't like
to know what's going to happen in the future or to
prepare for things that might happen in the future.
I'm more a play-it-as-it- lays kind of guy.
Q: Are you mainly attracted only to younger women?
NICHOLSON: No, not in the sense you mean. (Laughs)
What is a younger woman? I mean, I'm pretty old, so
almost every woman is younger than me. (Laughs) I've
never been a guy who's dated just one certain type of
woman, and I've always enjoyed intimacy and being able
to have intense relationships. I've even enjoyed being
married when I was younger.
Q: Would you be willing to get married again?
NICHOLSON: It's not exactly what I'm planning to do in
the near future, but I have nothing in principle
against the idea. I was married for seven years (to
Sandra Knight from 1962-68) and I liked it. I never
had a policy toward marriage, which, I think, is a
pretty intelligent approach. It's hard enough to learn
about yourself and understand who you are and what you
want from life. And to maintain a relationship is
several times harder.
Q: Since the director Nancy Meyers wrote the script
with you in mind, obviously you know that many people
will assume that you're playing yourself?
NICHOLSON: I suppose so, but the fact is that Harry is
a type of man I know very well, but it's not me by a
longshot. When Nancy was working on the script, I
gave her some anecdotal information about the guy she
was writing about, and she developed it in her own
way. While we were shooting the film, I could always
tell her when I felt the direction was right or it was
off, because I've seen how these guys operate and what
there attitudes towards women and life are all about.
Q: Can you give us an example of that?
NICHOLSON: There's this scene in the film where my
character and Diane's have just had sex and then they
go to the kitchen and share a plate of eggs together.
In the original script, they sleep together the rest
of the night. I told Nancy this guy would start
worrying about going back to that bed the moment he'd
finished the eggs because he was afraid of that type
of closeness and would be uncomfortable about it.
So we worked it out together that he'd be sitting on
the side of the bed with one foot on the floor -- like
a pool player negotiating his retreat. That worked
really good for the character and for me. It was my
favourite collaboration on this movie.
Q: Is there something irresistable about dating
younger women or is it really a matter of older men
trying to feel younger and more potent by being with a
beautiful young thing?
NICHOLSON: I think for a lot of guys the image thing
is very important as well as the purely cosmetic,
physical aspect. But I've never really bought into
that thinking. I've always been attracted to all
types of women and age has never been the thing or
strictly speaking pure physical beauty. I don't have
any strict conception of physical beauty anyway. If
you have any sense, you're going to want to look at
the whole aspect of a woman and what she brings to a
relationship. Sex for sex's sake has never been what
has motivated me when it comes to women. Like I told
you, I'm a romantic.
Q: Apparently, there's an in-joke when Harry refers
to his private parts as Mr. Midnight.
NICHOLSON: (Wide grin) Mine goes by the name of
Johnny Midnight, which may be more information than
you want to know...I can also tell you about a time in
my life during the sixties when I practiced a year of
what I called "experimental nudity" at home. I
basically walked around my place naked the entire day.
But to tell you the truth, at the end of the year, I
was no more relaxed about being naked than when I
started. (Laughs)
Q: Are you any more relaxed in a relationship today
than you might have been in the past?
NICHOLSON: I don't know how to answer that since I'm
not in a relationship now. I spend so much time alone
these days that I could hardly wait to do press for
this film. I just wanted to talk to someone! (Laughs)
Q: But you must have some kind of enlightented
perspective about relationships?
NICHOLSON: I suppose I've become more pragmatic and I
have less expectations probably than when I was
younger. If you're a romantic like I am, you tend to
idealise women, which is always dangerous. So now I'm
more accustomed to thinking in terms of thinking that
happiness comes down to understanding the other person
and being part of that person's life and hoping that
you are able to share certain things and enhance the
other person's life. It's a very complicated thing,
though. It always will be.
Q: There were a flood of rumours about you and your
co-star Amanda Peet having an affair...
NICHOLSON: I never read the stuff that's written about
me. I just hope it made for good copy and didn't
bother Amanda too much.
Q: Amanda Peet says that she was so nervous about
acting with you that she sat down and sang songs from
GUYS AND DOLLS to regain her composure. Do you realise
the effect you have on other people?
NICHOLSON: People react the way they do and I ignore
the "elephant" in the room. It's the way I am about
everything and not just about that particular thing. I
love the company of people, always have, my family was
always convivial. I've never really tried to
calculate the celebrity impact I have on people. I try
to keep in mind that people will tend to remember
meeting me and so I want to be respectful of that and
not be dismissive or evasive or project in any way
some kind of glorified status. I'm aware of it and at
the same time I try not to let it affect anything that
might come between people I might meet in the street
or in a restaurant or wherever. I try to be myself,
which is pretty open.
Q: You've made your name playing in dramas, but
lately you've been just as successful playing in
comedies. Does this surprise you in any way?\
NICHOLSON: I never imagined my name would be spoken in
the same sentence as romantic comedies but I'm happy
to making these kinds of films now. I don't want to
make my living depressing people which is what some
people might take away from seeing About Schmidt or
some of the darker films I've made over the last
several years.
When I started out, I had a plan like everyone does. I
had hope like everyone has and I thought they were
good plans and reasonable hopes, but nothing went the
way I planned it. Most of it went better. (Laughs)
I always had a plan for longevity, so it hasn't
shocked me that I've achieved that. It would be very
easy for me to say, 'Well I was just lucky." That's
easy to say because it's just polite but the fact of
the matter is, I had a lot to do with my success. I
did in fact go to acting classes for twelve years. I
made a lot of my own decisions, if only to know who's
good and that's who I tried to work with. Whether I am
any good or not, I've always been smart enough to work
with the best people in the industry and I learned
early on that the actors you work with are going to
make you look good or bad, so you treat them well.
The old thing about, 'he who cannot accept praise
wishes to be praised twice,' and those kinds of
thoughts, well, that's part of what I am still
learning as I go about this business.
Q: As you get older, do you worry about your
mortality?
NICHOLSON: I'm a real 'fraidy-cat about mortality. I
think about my mortality every day. That's why I would
be so happy if I didn't smoke. I'm so willful that I
can't believe I can't break the habit.
I don't want to be lying around dying in Cedar's Sinai
Hospital (in Los Angeles - ED) thinking that I was so
stupid not to have done more to have prevented the
inevitable. I'd be admitting that a man as petrified
as I am of dying did it to himself.
