Jack Nicholson’s burning Martin Scorsese collaboration: “I was literally planning to set the set on fire”
Some actors take their craft more seriously than others, and while Jack Nicholson was famous for pushing himself to the physical and psychological brink to achieve greatness, he at least decided that setting fire to a major production was a line he was better off not crossing.
A generational talent in front of the camera and a legendary hellraiser away from it, Nicholson was the embodiment of what superstar performers had become. He was impeccable when it came to his performances but enjoyed the spotlight every bit as much as he did the set.
The tales of his wild-man antics have gone down in Hollywood folklore, and it’s not as if he mellowed with age, either. Sure, he may have backed away from his reputation as a womaniser and largely curbed his once-rampant drug habits, but that mischievous twinkle in his eye never disappeared.
Martin Scorsese’s The Departed was proof of that, with Nicholson on scenery-devouring form as crime boss Frank Costello. Improvisation was key to embodying the unpredictable overlord of the underworld, which caused co-star Leonardo DiCaprio more than a few frights when his scene partner would regularly go off-script, even whipping out a sex toy on occasion to spice things up.
At the end of the day, though, the loose remake of Hong Kong classic Infernal Affairs was a $90million production initially optioned by an A-list mainstay in Brad Pitt and then backed by the might of a major studio through Warner Bros, so had Nicholson carried out his threat to torch The Departed in the name of artistic freedom, a lot of people wouldn’t have been very happy.
Scorsese admitted that “Nicholson worked in a different way” from what he was used to, which led to the iconic pair putting their heads together to work on “a character that was a little bit different” from the one present in William Monahan’s screenplay. The three-time Academy Award winner was allowed input into the role, then, but he considered taking things much too far.
During one bout of feverish creativity, he concocted a scene that would literally burn the house down, leaving him so tantalised by the possibilities it kept him up all night. “I didn’t sleep that night. Next day, I asked the prop man to get me a gun,” he ominously intoned. “I also asked him to get a fire extinguisher. That’s what happens when you set me loose. I was literally planning to set the set on fire.”
Fortunately, it didn’t come to pass, although the behind-the-scenes footage would have been quite the sight to behold were Nicholson to suddenly decide without informing the director, cast, and crew that he really was going to light The Departed ablaze.
