The Jack Nicholson movie that every major studio rejected: “They don’t want them”
Given his stunning filmography, many of which have garnered huge box office totals, it’s clear that Jack Nicholson knows how to attract a crowd. In light of that, when Nicholson signs on to a project, movie producers and directors know they already have a winner on their hands.
Comfortable playing a wide range of character roles in whatever genre, Nicholson has detailed his ability to deliver a rousing performance time and time again. Widely considered one of the greatest actors of all time, it’s easy to see how Nicholson earned such a reputation.
For instance, just take a brief glance at the excellent films that the New Jersey-born actor has contributed to. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Easy Rider, As Good as It Gets, The Shining, Chinatown, and that is only to mention a handful of the kind of roles that Nicholson has become known for.
Interestingly, considering the kind of reputation for brilliance that Nicholson possesses, even later in his career, one movie ended up being a rousing success that many major studios didn’t want to touch: the 2007 buddy comedy-drama The Bucket List, directed by Rob Reiner and also starring Morgan Freeman.
The film, which saw the two Hollywood legends, Nicholson and Freeman, portray two terminally ill men who take a road trip to fulfil their wish list of things they want to do in their lives before they “kick the bucket”, was conceived by writer Justin Zackman after he wrote his own bucket list.
Though the film was certainly not the best Jack Nicholson (or Morgan Freeman) movie of all time, it was very commercially successful, grossing $175million from a $45m budget. However, remarkably, according to director Rob Reiner, it was very difficult to get the film into the hands of a major studio.
Speaking with Roger Ebert, the This Is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me and The Princess Bride filmmaker noted: “They don’t want to make these kinds of films. They don’t want them. The Bucket List has probably made close to $200million now and they don’t care. We had trouble even getting that made, even with Jack and Morgan involved.”
In fact, Reiner said that the “only reason” he managed to get the film made by Warner Bros was because “Alan Horn, who was a partner of mine in Castle Rock, was running Warner Bros at the time and agreed to do it.” Still, Horn didn’t want to make the film with the initially proposed price that Reiner had set, with the director adding, “No one else wanted to do it, and every single studio turned it down.”
The Bucket List, considering its story and themes, naturally had an older audience, which goes to show why Reiner knew that there was an audience for it. “It was a tremendous success,” he said. “We know there is definitely an audience of older people. So we are definitely there, but you have to have something in the theatres that makes people want to see it.”
So the real fools concerning The Bucket List were those major studio executives who decided to reject Reiner, Nicholson and Freeman, who laughed all the way to the bank with their box office smash hit.
