Jack Nicholson’s unsung role in casting a Clint Eastwood classic: “I wouldn’t be able to say no”
When Clint Eastwood won an Oscar for directing the 1992 western Unforgiven, it proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he had well and truly transitioned from actor to A-list director. The film won four Oscars in all, including for ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Actor’ in a ‘Supporting Role ‘for Gene Hackman, and ‘Best Film Editing’.
In the film, Eastwood plays retired outlaw Will Munny, who is drawn back into his violent ways when a group of sex workers offer a bounty to avenge the brutal assault of one of their own in a small Wyoming outpost. The cast is full of prestigious actors, including Hackman as the local sheriff, Morgan Freeman as Munny’s old friend Ned, and Richard Harris as English Bob, a flamboyant rival outlaw intent on flexing his muscles. English Bob doesn’t come alone. With him is WW Beauchamp, a writer who is penning his biography. Played by Saul Rubinek, Beauchamp is a devotee of the mythology of the Old West, but his illusions are quickly shattered by Hackman’s character.
Rubinek revealed in 2014 that he earned the role of Beauchamp thanks to some pivotal input from Jack Nicholson. In an interview on The Road to Cinema Podcast, he recounted that he had been working with Nicholson on the 1992 romantic comedy Man Trouble and that when the actor heard that he was going to be auditioning for Eastwood’s latest film, he had some advice.
“Just do more than is required,” he told him.
As Rubinek remembered, actors didn’t usually make their own audition tapes back in the early ‘90s. They would either do the audition in person or go into a casting director’s office and have them film the audition. He had wanted to do it in person, but Eastwood wasn’t offering in-person auditions. Based on Nicholson’s advice, Rubinek made the tape himself, ensuring that the lighting was perfect and that he did more scenes than they had asked for. “I got cast right away,” he recalled.
Later, when he met Eastwood for the first time during a costume fitting, he asked him why he had been cast so quickly, and the director told him that his tape had stood out. He then asked why the director didn’t allow any of the actors to audition in person, and Eastwood responded, “Oh, I wouldn’t be able to say no to anybody.”
This is surprising coming from a man known for his imposing, monosyllabic presence. You could imagine Ron Howard struggling to turn away a hopeful actor or Steven Spielberg making sure he wasn’t in the room when the casting director had to break it to a would-be child star that they just didn’t have what it takes, but Clint Eastwood seems like he would be the last person to struggle with this type of situation. You could even imagine him simply giving the slightest shake of the head instead of trying to offer words of solace.
Luckily for Rubinek, however, Nicholson knew exactly how to work around his old pal Eastwood. Following his role in Unforgiven, Rubinek has continued his career as an in-demand character actor, appearing in Tony Scott’s True Romance in 1993, the Coen brothers’ 2018 anthology western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and the television series Billions, to name a few.
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