The one movie Jack Black has always been “obsessed” with: “I love this one so much”
In a quick five-year period, Jack Nicholson turned in two performances that would forever be remembered as the most influential in cinema history.
In 1975, he starred in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining and helped redefine dramatic cinema in the process. His truly chilling portrayal of Jack Torrance set the standard for any villainous and intensely maniacal characters that came after.
Five years earlier, though, Nicholson exhibited his ability to act with that very same intensity on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In yet another screen adaptation of a book, Nicholson enabled the character to jump out of the pages, straddling the line of drama, depth and humour with relative ease and consequently turned in a performance that countless actors have considered the very best of all time.
While Jack Black might not be regarded with the same dramatic esteem as Nicholson, his comedy chops were undoubtedly inspired by the irreverence of the two-time Oscar winner. Speaking of that 1975 performance, Black said: “I always really loved One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Jack was just so darn good, plus the movie is moving.”
Adding, “I guess I love this one so much because I’ve always had an obsession with people who are psychologically challenged, wait, that doesn’t sound good the way it just came out, but I do love people who don’t think in the so-called normal way. I’ll take psychological problems any day in a movie over a car chase or a love story, I love to watch people who think way outside the box, and in Cuckoo’s Nest, it’s almost like they’re in a zoo.”
A performance like that didn’t come without consequence, however. In fact, the entire shoot for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was fraught with drama and friction, which regularly saw Nicholson and director Miloš Forman butting heads.
Both Nicholson and Forman were relentless creatives and had a very clear vision of how this film should pan out. The tension between the pair often boiled over when they discussed the portrayal of the lead character, Randle McMurphy, with Nicholson regularly appearing on set with a large bushy beard.
He passionately believed that it was integral to the development of the character, whereas Forman disagreed. The conflict resulted in the pair refusing to even communicate with each other, and instead asking questions through the film’s cinematographer, Bill Butler. Nicholson even refused to take part in the DVD’s bonus features created years after the film’s production.
But ultimately, the pair realised that this was the sacrifice for greatness that they were both relentlessly pursuing. While they may have disagreed, to both Nicholson and Forman, the film absolutely came first, and that is ultimately what resulted in the masterpiece they made. It was a performance brimming with the sort of sacrifice and intensity that so many actors like Black looked up to.
It was a fitting performance for Nicholson to win his first ‘Best Actor’ nod, an honour to which he brilliantly responded, “I guess this proves there are as many nuts in the Academy as there are anywhere else.”
A tongue-in-cheek quip that garnered the laughter of the audience but more subliminally outlined the overriding theme of the film: the blurred line between accepted societal behaviour and that considered madness.
