Jack Nicholson merged with his characters – with Randle Patle Patrick McMurphy, Jack Torrance, Joker and George Hanson – or was it always the other way around? No other actor was nominated for the Oscar more often, and Nicholson himself won gold three times. In the meantime, the actor has almost completely withdraw from the Hollywood business. But the myth of a mime that is unpredictable in any sense remains.
Who is this lovable, sometimes scary, sometimes seductive and then again scary Jack Nicholson? Or do all the characters he played depict exactly the dazzling diversity of his character?
Jack Nicholson and his famous laughter
The documentary “Jack Nicholson – one flew over Hollywood” tries to reveal the secret and only tells everyone about one of the most exciting actors in his generation, who also left little in other areas of his life. Born in 1937 as an illegitimate child of a young dancer in New Jersey, he grew with her parents. At the age of 37, he learned that his older “sister” June was in truth.
The way to the film Olympus was initially a stony for Nicholson. He worked as a messenger in the cartoon department of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, until like many others in the industry and at that time B-Film-Papst Roger Corman offered him a role in the scary film “Small shop full of horror”, which later became a cult classic. That was 1960 – and his breakthrough with the Road Movie “Easy Rider” only a few years away. The rest is the story of a restless – and maybe it is not so wrong about a Hollywood before and to speak to Jack Nicholson.
“Jack Nicholson – one flew over Hollywood”, Arte, February 07, 9:45 p.m. (in the Media library Available until 24.02.2025)