The role that left Jack Nicholson terrified of his own mortality: “Vulnerable, exposed, helpless”
Jack Nicholson is revered for his nuanced and affecting performances over the years, with complex characters that suffer from a range of afflictions, whether it be alcoholism, indecision or the crippling corruption of the Californian elite. With an early streak at the beginning of his career that became the hallmark of a true legend, with back-to-back work on films such as Chinatown, The Passenger and The Last Detail, the actor became known for his seemingly effortless ability to move between emotional extremes, with heightened performances that show the full spectrum of his dramatic ability.
However, towards the later part of his career, he found himself in roles that were less demanding compared to his younger years, despite one performance that rattled him to his core.
Before retiring, Nicholson settled into several less distressing roles, starring alongside Adam Sandler in the 2003 comedy Anger Management, as well as light-hearted dramas such as As Good As It Gets and How Do You Know. However, there was one unsuspecting role that gave him a scare in 2003 by playing one of his darkest fears.
Something’s Gotta Give, directed by Nancy Meyers, comes across as a fairly harmless film on the outside, especially given that it was directed by the queen of feel-good romantic drama herself. The movie follows a man called Harry Sanborn, who is dating a much younger woman. After unexpectedly having a heart attack, his outlook on life changes, and he ends up dating the mother of his girlfriend instead.
While the plot does not sound like something that would provoke an existential crisis, Nicholson described the terror of re-enacting a heart attack, which felt eerily similar to something that could happen to him at his age. The actor explained: “Lying on the ground, I was very vulnerable. The minute I laid down on the gurney and looked up at Keanu [Reeves], I knew where I was at. You know what I’m saying. One of the things I don’t like to do at my tender age is to be portrayed as a beached whale lying on the ground, and that’s exactly what I do in the new movie. Lying there—vulnerable, exposed, helpless–represents everything dropping away, and it’s terrifying.”
There is nothing more terrifying than being faced with your own mortality, even for someone who lives forever through his work on the silver screen. It’s a sobering wake-up call to the forces outside of our control that predict our time on this earth, with Nicholson saying, “Nothing is more pulverising in life than a brush with the grim reaper. I’m kind of a fraidy cat in that way, anyway. I wouldn’t quite call myself a hypochondriac, but I’ve had moments of feeling a lump under my arm and thinking I’m going to vomit and pass out in the shower. When people of your own generational group begin to appear in obituaries, you sweat”.
Sometimes, the most terrifying roles are the ones that touch on a thought in the deep recesses of your mind, playing on a fear and bringing it to the surface. Despite being shaken by the experience of acting out his own death, perhaps it was somewhat cathartic for Nicholson, and he was able to process this fear through his art.
