Legendary actor Jack Nicholson has done just about everything in his almost sixty-year career. The actor, who was last seen in the 2010 film How Do You Know, was one of the biggest stars in the 70s and 80s. He has worked with legendary filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, and Rob Reiner.
One of his last film roles before his retirement in 2010, was the romantic comedy Something’s Gotta Give in which he starred along with Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves. Director Nancy Meyers recalled that when she cast Nicholson in the film, he said that it was a dream to be a part of a ‘tuxedo’ comedy.
Jack Nicholson And Diane Keaton In Something’s Gotta Give
In 2003, Jack Nicholson starred in the Nancy Meyers-directed romantic comedy Something’s Gotta Give. He played the role of Harry Sanborn, a wealthy businessman in his 60s, who only dates women below 30. He falls in love with the mother of his girlfriend, Erica Klein, who is a playwright.
Meyers revealed that her Oscar-nominated film was initially passed over by many executives before being approved by Sony Pictures. She then sent the script to Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, who agreed to be a part of it.
Keaton actually won the Golden Globe for Best Actress for the film and was also nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. Meyers revealed that Diane Keaton was so convincing in her acting that Nicholson once called her thinking that Keaton had just confessed her love to him while they were rehearsing.
Meyers said to Vulture magazine during the Tribeca Film Festival,
“I said, ‘What’s up?’ And he goes, ‘Diane just told me she loves me.’ I couldn’t tell if he was horrified or thrilled. So I was like, ‘Yes, I know, I wrote that line. It’s in the script, Jack.’ And he said, ‘Oh, okay.’ He thought she meant it. It’s really funny. That’s her.”
Jack Nicholson was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor for the film.
Jack Nicholson Was Ecstatic After Being Cast In Nancy Meyers’ Comedy
Jack Nicholson was known for his serious and dramatic roles at the peak of his stardom. Be it his classic psychological horror The Shining, or the neo-noir detective film Chinatown, Nicholson was known for his delving into the human psyche. His strength is being able to pull off deranged characters to perfection, evidenced by The Shining and playing Joker in Batman.
However, the last few roles of the actor before his retirement were comedies apart from the Martin Scorsese crime drama The Departed. He starred in comedies such as About Schmidt, Anger Management, and The Bucket List in the early 2000s, and his final film role to date is the romantic comedy How Do You Know.
Nancy Meyers revealed that he was ecstatic when he was cast in the romantic comedy Something’s Gotta Give. He reportedly called it a ‘tuxedo comedy’ and said that it was his dream to be featured in one all his life. She revealed in the Hollywood Gold podcast,
“He said great things. But the most charming thing he said was, ‘I’ve always wanted to be in a tuxedo comedy.’ Nobody’s in a tuxedo in the movie, but you get that he’s referencing a screwball of some sort or one of the more classic, you know, Hollywood love story-comedies. It was a great phone call. He was lovely.”
The director of romantic comedies such as The Parent Trap and What Women Want was also equally excited about working with him and said that his call to confirm his involvement in the project was the ‘greatest call of her life’.
