James L. Brooks point to Jack Nicholson coming back from retirement
Los Angeles: Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson may have hung up his boots 15 years ago, but his friend, filmmaker James L. Brooks has said that he still has a lot of acting left in him.
James directed the actor in his comedy film ‘How Do You Know’. He has said that Jack Nicholson hasn’t “stopped” acting, reports ‘People’ magazine.
Brooks and Nicholson, both 88, built a professional collaboration and personal friendship worthy of Hollywood lore through the actor’s Oscar-winning performances in Brooks’ beloved dramedies ‘Terms of Endearment’ and ‘As Good as It Gets’, as well as a small role in ‘Broadcast News’.
Although 15 years have passed since the actor last stepped onto the big screen in ‘How Do You Know’, Brooks says the movie legend will one day grace it again.
“Oh, I don’t think he stopped”, Brooks said. “I mean, he’s gotten scripts, he’s reading them, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing them”.
As per ‘People’, Brooks previously shared that he believes Nicholson will “get itchy and scratch” his interest in acting once more.) Brooks repeatedly refers to Nicholson as “the greatest actor of the generation” as he discusses his new film, Ella McCay, and his own directing career, which helped bring Nicholson two of his three career Academy Awards.
The pair first met after Debra Winger brought Jack Nicholson and Brooks’ script for 1983’s ‘Terms of Endearment’ and convinced him to co-star in the movie alongside her and Shirley MacLaine.
James told ‘People’, “I didn’t have a second choice. I didn’t because the guy has to have a license from an audience when he walks on, and he was the only (one). I was a fledgling (director), and I had to get the greatest guy going or not make the movie”.
“He’s great to work with. I once asked him, I just think it was one of the best things to say to other actors. I asked him, ‘What do you do if you’re in a scene and the other actor isn’t particularly talented?’”, he added.
Brooks also spoke of an interaction with the actor, as he shared, “And he said, ‘No, no. Whatever the other actor does is perfect’. And that is not only a gorgeous answer, it’s severely true”.
Brooks’ new movie ‘Ella McCay’ is in theaters now.