Jack Nicholson at 78: The Bollywood connection and 10 best roles
When an actor of Jack Nicholson's stature celebrates his 78th birthday, a look at some of the best roles of his career is but inevitable.
Even at 78, Jack Nicholson can give tough competition to his decades'-younger Hollywood colleagues, when it comes to attitude and coolth. Those eyebrows, the fiendishly charming laugh, the look that can still make many fall for him...and of course, Nicholson the actor. After all, not for nothing has the Academy nominated him for their awards some 12 times, a feat that no other male actor has been able to achieve yet.
Watch: "You can't handle the truth" - A Few Good Men
Neurotic, easily excitable, psychopathic, dark roles. Name one, and chances are you can find a role or two in Nicholson's oeuvre that has done justice to those not-so-easily-understandable sides of human behaviour. Now, for an actor who began his journey with Roger Corman adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories, amassing the kind of fame that Nicholson has done is nothing short of amazing. And no, he's not just an actor, he has made quite a name for himself as a director, producer and screenwriter, too.
Watch: Like the Chinese do it - Chinatown
And all those good things apart, something that Nicholson has really wowed us lesser mortals with, is his notoriously infectious charm with the ladies. Had there been a male analogue for the 'femme fatale', Nicholson sure would have epitomised it to the core. And with several models and actresses on his arm over the years, Nicholson is right at the top of the list of playboys Hollywood has seen.
Watch: Here's Johnny - The Shining
Closer home, Bollywood, too, hasn't been able to resist the Nicholson charm. With reports of Haider director Vishal Bharadwaj planning a Hindi remake of The Departed (2006) doing the rounds of wagging tongues and newspapers, the interest in Nicholson has received an all-new spurt now. Hrithik Roshan will apparently be seen in a pivotal role in the Bolly-Departed, and speculations are rife as to who would be essaying Nicholson's Frank Costello in it. Guess we'll just have to wait till the cast is finalised...with the hope that the one playing Costello is able to do justice to Nicholson's original.
Watch: Costello smells a rat - The Departed
Well. When an actor of Nicholson's stature celebrates his 78th birthday, a look at some of the best roles of his career is but inevitable. So, here's a compilation of the ten best roles from Nicholson's filmography. This is a task which would mean leaving out many other memorable performances, and we know that there will be differences of opinion, given the fact that a list such as this is subjective to the hilt...but here's it, nevertheless.
Easy Rider (1969)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
The Last Detail (1973)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
As Good As It Gets (1976)
Terms of Endearment (1984)
A Few Good Men (1992)
The Pledge (2001)
The Departed (2006)
The Bucket List (2007)
