Jack Nicholson (talking to Jack Nicholson at his peak)

Proofreading: Qin Tian

At present, Jack Nicholson is one of the most popular actors in Hollywood. With his participation, and the project seems feasible in other aspects, it is not difficult to raise funds.

However, if you think about it again, you will feel strange. In any case, he is not robert redford, and his films are rarely classified as blockbusters in terms of intention or achievement. Even his present situation is contradictory-the films he participated in are quite impressive at first glance-antonioni and Polanski's new films have been completed, followed by Ken Russell and mike nichols's films-but we should also remember that antonioni and Polanski's recent film box office is not satisfactory; After Dolphin Day, mike nichols's box office appeal also wavered.

Dolphin Day (1973)

Looking back on Jack Nicholson's career so far, this is not particularly surprising. Although he was recently nominated for an Oscar for Special Mission (this is his third Oscar nomination), he has never been cautious. He is also the kind of actor who is often nominated but has never won an Oscar.

Special tasks (1973)

From playing a mediocre and naive young man in roger corman's films to acting as a screenwriter, producer and actor in monte hellman's films Shooting and Whirlwind Knight, Nicholson has occupied a place in the film industry. After Easy Rider, he began to gain some fame and influence. So far, his use of this situation is an amazing example of a common bridge in movies in the 1960 s: filling in blank checks.

Easy Rider (1969)

Of course, this is within the scope of "possibility"-the trick is to know what the limit of "possibility" is. When he first collaborated with Coleman as an actor, Nicholson had no clear ambition to do other things.

Like many other actors, he began to write plays, and co-wrote the play of A True Story with another actor, Don Devlin. Robert Lippert, the producer of the film, admired him very much, and then invited him and monte hellman to write another play-Coleman rejected the film, calling it "an undeveloped and low-quality work".

But Coleman suggested that if they could make two western action movies at a certain price, he would fund them. Since then, Nicholson has continued to write and produce, creating employment opportunities for himself.

Then Easy Rider.

Jack Nicholson: I participated in the production process for the first time. I'm still doing my hair with Bob Rafson. Later, dennis hopper and Peter Fonda brought this project. They showed it to Bob and me first. We promote it by financing and facilitating transactions.

Then they started shooting in New Orleans. There was a problem in their production and they had to change their employees. So I invited the team that I have been working independently to form the core of Dennis's Easy Rider team. I don't know what happened between Dennis and rip torn. He should have played my role. But Bert Schneider came to me, and I always thought that he not only wanted to play this role, but also wanted to supervise the production.

When they were filming, I no longer participated in any production work, but mainly focused on my own performance. After that, at the request of everyone, I edited the film-from the appearance of my character to the end. Meanwhile, Henry Jaglom edited the first half. This is the penultimate stage of the whole editing process, and many people cooperate closely.

Q: Did the success of "Easy Rider" have a great influence on your filming "He said to drive"?

Nicholson: More or less, but in order to be a co-producer and screenwriter of Hair, the contract says that I need to prepare for this film.

Driving, he said (197 1)

At that time, I didn't think this film would be a commercial film. There are many other college movies on the market. Although I'm sure I can handle this topic well, I don't think it's enough.

At the same time, I realize that if there are two core characters in a drama-neither of them is completely correct nor completely wrong, and the interests between them are very evenly distributed, you have broken the first law of financing: the first question people will ask is, what is the fundamental interest? I submitted this to the person in charge as one of the three projects I wanted to do, and they didn't agree. They think of positive college movies, while I think of negative college movies.

My idea at that time was simply to make this film. I'm not particularly worried about commercialization. I think this is a theme that allows me to say a lot of things I want to say. One reason why I like college movies is that people have the right to state a philosophy when they are naive and young; This is not suitable for an older role.

If colleges and universities are observed as a micro-world, then the dialogue between roles should be more philosophical. This particular environment does not make it look too academic. For example, you will see two milkmen walking together to talk about the poetry of playing baseball, or talk about the psychological/sexual dynamics of participating in team sports.

These are the topics discussed in the movie. But they are the core of the film: that's all it is. This film has two central characters, Gabriel and Hector. Gabriel is a young man with political revolutionary spirit influenced by William Reich. He believes in Reich's political theory. His behavior has been carrying out Reich's thought: he is right, what he said is right, but no one believes him, which makes him crazy and finally institutionalized.

Trivian and I had a heated argument about the censorship of this film, because he wanted to cut out a sentence, that is, Olive, played by Hector and karen black, said "I'll be right there" during the orgasm.

I believe he thinks I'm crazy to argue about such a small compromise, but for me, this sentence is the crystallization of the whole movie: the contest between characters and their different abilities to release this sexual power. Oliver is the freest of all the characters. Gabriel was trapped by the pressure of his hallucinations. Hector is not very clever and obedient by nature. It is difficult for him to relate his physical fitness to his social status.

Hector and Gabriel represent completely opposite philosophies, but they live together, neither completely wrong nor completely right, nor completely agree with each other. It is foolish to try to force one of them to be the undisputed protagonist: they live in the same room and participate in the same activities, but they are completely opposite.

However, when Hector tried to do something in his contract negotiation scene, he tried to be a revolutionary in his own way. Hector also tried to continue his career as a professional athlete, and at the same time he did something new based on his personal morality. This film can almost be regarded as the story of Bill Walton. Wharton's own career explains the philosophy expressed by Hector.

Do you know of any other movies that are based on movie characters after the film is made? It has all kinds of things, and it is not modest to say that what we did at that time was quite far-sighted. I hope the film will be more successful then. If the box office is successful, I may be one step closer to directing this film again now. But I am still very satisfied with this film, whether many people have seen it or not.

Q: "Driving, He said" and "Beauty is dying" were only released on a small scale. What is the commercial value of such a film under the current distribution mode?

Nicholson: Unless there is a way to promote movies as works of art, that is, a movie is only shown in one or two theaters, and the admission fee is adjusted according to the degree of specialization of the market and the intensity of demand. If I don't depend on the film industry economically, I am willing to try.

Beauty is dying (1972)

However, this method is of little use in more traditional art, such as Beauty is Fading, which is very Kafka-like. Everyone knows Kafka and everyone says he is a great writer. But his works are not publications that can make anyone rich. Now I really feel, to be naive, that if I were Kafka's agent, or if I published Kafka's book, I would try to get some proper remuneration for him and his works.

In this film, I think my role is a loner-that is, Kafka, a person who lives alone in a room-which is a very specific image, and there are more people related to it than we thought. When I perform, I try to represent the same group honestly, and this character also has the same group.

But we don't like to see them in real life, so you can't expect those bold movie audiences who are used to seeing heroes chic or intoxicated with villains to identify with these people in the traditional way. But at the same time, it doesn't mean that the film should not be open to those who might want to see it. This is a process of educating the audience.

In a group discussion I attended recently, we talked a lot about the social responsibility of actors. Now I think the actor's responsibility is not only to support the candidates and so on, but also to support the film "Beauty is dying", otherwise there will be no chance to make it. This is a way for actors to influence the system: to educate the public as much as possible. As we all know, this is ultimately the most important way to influence society.

Q: In view of "Driving", he said that "Beauty is dying" are all non-American movies, and they don't use traditional narrative to convey meaning. This kind of interesting education may be particularly necessary.

Nicholson: The narratives of the two films are quite implicit, but the meaning is more clear. This may be a feature of European films. You know, the practice of cultivating American public taste by increasing familiarity with foreign language films has not happened as expected: the audience of foreign language films has been declining in the past few years.

Although the release of Cry and Whisper has achieved good results, roger corman believes that the reason why foreign language films have made progress in the United States is simple, because they are more outspoken about sex, and once American films make such an attempt, the audience will stay away from them, leaving only enthusiastic fans.

Shouting and whispering (1972)

This is a chilling thing for me. But it seems to be true: through movies such as "Zuzhan" and "Eight and a Half", all American audiences have been better educated and have a more complicated and delicate way of observing narrative, roles and human nature, but now these seem to have disappeared.

Now, it seems that the reason for the success of amplification is probably that it has a scene of women's "spring scenery". This is a success that antonioni has never had before and will never have in the future.

Zoom in (1966)

Q: What do you think is the selling point of antonioni's new book "The Passer-by"?

Nicholson: This new movie is quite risky; All the films I have made in the past few years are very risky, but fortunately, people are willing to take a gamble-they may only make such a film. The risk of this film is that although the film structure is its advantage, the narrative main line is very fragmented in a special way, which makes people feel that there is a second or third narrative point.

Passers-by (1975)

The basic theme of Passer-by is the change of identity: it involves a man's fantasy and subconscious field. He said, "Why don't I step out of my present life and become a brand-new person?" It can release all the spiritual energy locked in fantasy and tell you why you can or can't do it, and how real or unreal it is.

The success of this film depends on whether it can convincingly express a very high-end and profound theme. Structure is a mystery; The protagonist who chooses to change is in a very mysterious situation, and the film attracts the audience with a very long, elaborate and elusive pursuit.

I find that antonioni is very self-disciplined in his work. This is very hard work, and we sometimes feel nervous, but this is the essence of this kind of work. Of course, antonioni has always been a master.

Some directors may make people feel that some things in the film may happen by accident, or the film critics may over-interpret it. But for antonioni, everything in the film is intentional. He deserves his position, and the people who work with him accept it-he is not as tall as a dictator, and he is open in many ways. He told me that he treats every scene like a documentary about the scene material; He doesn't want to have too many preconceptions about this scene.

Every way of working has its own obstacles. People always say, "What does antonioni want? What is it, Michelangelo? But he almost never tells them directly, because once he explains it, he becomes very limited. He won't have any output.

Mike nichols and antonioni have some similarities. I also noticed Truffaut's working method-taking guidance as the answer to all uncertainties. Truffaut is gentle; But I think he is also very determined and won't make you afraid to ask those stupid questions. Truffaut's works are more complicated than those of other people, because there is such contradictory diversity in his shooting team, which evolved from his personal style. Either way: spend money and make your own choices.

Antonioni's basic approach to actors is "don't perform, say lines and act". He won't build a dramatic structure, he will only sketch out the form. The simpler, the clearer the shape.

If you mess up the content and destroy the inner nature of the movie character, then your cooperation with him will run counter to each other, because he is seeking clarity so that he can see the form. If you break this point, you will run counter to his work style. It was difficult for me to learn, but I'm glad I did it. This also makes it easier for roman polanski and I to cooperate with him when we are working in Chinatown.

Chinatown (1974)

Roman is another kind of dictator. He likes arguing, but he doesn't know what to do without arguing. I'm not talking about fighting. Just arguing. But he has never lost, so it is not a real argument. This is his creative method.

If there is no progress, he will stop arguing. But Roman will still keep this habit. So his problem is to keep people focused and motivated enough to ask him questions. He also succeeded this time.

We (Chinatown) are the only Paramount film released as scheduled this year. Roman is a very reasonable person. There are very few shots that need to be shot repeatedly, all of which just need to be adjusted.

You know, these directors are often right. When shooting a shot, there is absolutely no reason to give up turning on the camera at a certain moment until you get the ideal effect.

I think I can perform as long as the camera can shoot. This is one of the essential qualities of a professional film actor. Of course, your abilities will disappear at some point. But I think this is obvious to all. Any insightful director will either say "Maybe I'm on the edge of my subconscious" and try to drive you beyond it to see if there is anything special when you are close to madness, or he will stop at that moment.

Q: In your career, you almost always cooperate with contemporary film directors. Minelli is an exception, and antonioni, of course, but he is a very modern filmmaker. Did you do this on purpose?

Nicholson: More or less. However, not many senior directors I respect and want to work with have invited me. The problem is that once your fame and experience reach a certain level, you will lose contact with new actors.

Mike nichols often criticizes my old friend Buck Henry because Buck didn't recommend me to him when casting for Catch-22. But soon, he was one of the first people to see "Easy Rider", which made him pay more attention to me and let me participate in "The Man Who Hunts for Love". Mike is older than me, but in film, he and I are contemporaries-in fact, I have worked in the film field for a long time.

Looking for love (197 1)

I am willing to work with anyone who is efficient, probably for anyone who can survive in this industry for a long time. That's why I want to cooperate with Ken Russell, although I only stayed on the set of Breaking Through the Valley of Darkness for a few days and played a doctor. Russell's films intrigued me. I like some parts very much and I don't like some. I wonder what his hobbies are.

I like working with new people and young people. What makes me feel very interesting is that I always inadvertently work with someone who looks obviously younger than me. This is what I expected with a strange fear, because I can feel their outlines. ...