Tom Cruise names his favourite Jack Nicholson movies: “Look at that run he was on”
Jack Nicholson isn’t just one of the greatest actors to ever work in Hollywood, beloved by movie buffs and critics alike; he’s also probably your favourite actor’s favourite actor. Countless stars of the last three decades have been open about how Nicholson influenced their work, and most of them also did everything in their power to work with the man. Take Tom Cruise, for example. He starred alongside Nicholson in the electric military courtroom drama A Few Good Men, yet when he was asked to talk about his experience, he couldn’t help devolving back into the status of a fan waxing lyrical about his favourite Nicholson movies.
In 2014, Cruise was asked to speak about Nicholson by GQ magazine, and he was only too happy to oblige. He began by delving into the backstory of the iconic “You can’t handle the truth” scene from A Few Good Men, the 1992 classic directed by Rob Reiner. In that scintillating scene, Cruise’s military lawyer, Daniel Kaffee, goes one-on-one with Nicholson’s bellowing Colonel Nathan Jessep and forces him to lose his cool on the stand. It’s one of the great scenes of the ’90s – and Cruise couldn’t wait to shoot it.
“I’d been thinking about it for months,” revealed Cruise. “And it was like, ‘Here it is, man, I’m going to enjoy every moment of this.'” He claimed, “People came from all around just to watch us play that scene. They were showing up along the edges. So many people. And when the scene ended the first time, there was applause…God, it was exciting. It was electric.”
For Cruise, the scene was a masterclass in screen acting because he could zero in on the subtleties of Nicholson’s performance. Despite the scene featuring Nicholson blowing his top in such spectacular fashion, Cruise also felt he included little details that the camera could capture. He explained, “He understands the camera in such a manner that the power had to come from stillness. So he made his movements so minimal.”
He added, “When it comes to the key point, Jessup doesn’t even realise my character has beaten him, but you can see the flicker of Jack’s eyes, and it’s not calculated. He just understands the power of the frame. That’s what makes him a craftsman.”
By this point in the conversation, Cruise had become so caught up in talking about how damn good Nicholson is on the big screen that he simply began listing his favourite Nicholson films. He marvelled, “When you think of the guy from The Last Detail or One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, and now he’s playing Colonel Jessup, this terrifying military character. The wide range of performances that he’s given is incredible.”
For Cruise, the ’70s saw Nicholson deliver a run of seminal motion pictures that few actors can match. In addition to the two aforementioned classics, Cruise also namechecked Chinatown, Five Easy Pieces, and Carnal Knowledge as examples of Nicholson at the top of his game. Indeed, Carnal Knowledge was the only one of the five films Cruise loved so much that Nicholson didn’t land an Oscar nomination for. The Mission: Impossible star gushed, “That whole period of cinema was remarkable. What movies they are.”
Cruise then articulated something about Nicholson that was true from the start of his career, all the way to his low-key retirement film How Do You Know. He remarked, “When you see Jack on screen, you’re looking at him in a frame, and you’re thinking, ‘Why are my eyes drawn to that guy?'”
This is the essence of movie stardom and likely something Cruise has always tried to emulate in his career. No matter what is happening on screen, the audience’s eye should inexorably move toward the star – and Nicholson was a master at this. He concluded, “Look at Chinatown – the guy is so alive on screen. He’s so charismatic. I mean, listen, it’s why some people are movie stars.”
