The movie Jack Nicholson refused to watch out of spite: “To be candid, I’m furious”
Befitting his reputation as one of the greatest actors in cinema history, not only will people be watching Jack Nicholson movies for generations to come, but they’ll be exposed to the sheer range of talents that saw him bring so many unforgettable characters to life.
Whether it was ushering in a bold new age of counterculture cinema with Easy Rider, delivering two of the finest performances of all time in Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, bringing understated pathos to The Pledge, gnawing on the scenery in The Departed, or tugging at the heartstrings in As Good As It Gets, Nicholson could do it all.
He could be a straight-laced hero, a romantic lead, an exaggerated villain, a menacing figure, a sympathetic protagonist, and a scene-stealing supporting player, and there aren’t many names of his era – or any other, for that matter – that mastered so many different kinds of characters over such an extended period of time.
The three-time Academy Award winner also tore up the rulebook and changed the way the industry conducts its contractual negotiations with its A-list talents forever when he landed what was then the most lucrative deal ever awarded to a performer when he landed a ludicrous payday for embodying the Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman.
Nicholson was perfectly cast as the over-the-top and unsettling arch-enemy of Michael Keaton’s Caped Crusader, and he set a very high bar for whoever followed in his footsteps. Undaunted by the task, Heath Ledger put a wholly different but equally effective spin on the ‘Clown Prince of Crime’ in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, which netted him a posthumous Oscar.
Even though his predecessor was in his early 70s when production began on the middle chapter in Nolan’s trilogy, he was gradually easing himself into retirement, and Batman Begins acting as a prequel effectively rendered his Joker irrelevant; Nicholson was so indignant the role had been recast two decades after he played it that he refused to watch The Dark Knight as a matter of principle.
“I’m furious. I’m furious,” he ranted after he caught wind of the movie’s existence. “They never asked me about a sequel with the Joker. I know how to do that! Nobody ever asked me. Not asking me to do the sequel is that kind of thing. Maybe it’s not a mistake. Maybe it was the right thing, but to be candid, I’m furious.”
The Dark Knight was instantly greeted as one of the best films of 2008, arguably the greatest comic book adaptation ever made, cleared a billion dollars at the box office, and created such outrage over being snubbed in the ‘Best Picture’ race at the Oscars that it directly led to the field of nominees being expanded.
Still, Nicholson remained completely disinterested. “I’m not inclined to watch it because of what I said,” he sneered. “But if it’s a good movie, I’ll catch up with it somewhere.” It remains unknown if he ever got around to seeing Nolan’s grandiose superhero spectacular, but if he intended to stick to his guns out of spite, he probably didn’t.
