Do you recognize these stars as they were in 1977?

After three Oscars and a decades-long career defined by amazing roles, Jack Nicholson has proven himself to be one of the greatest actors working in film today. Parade magazine spent nearly seven hours with Nicholson in Los Angeles, his home for 54 years.

(Fun Fact: Nicholson was styled by Victoria Beckham for this photo shoot. He was introduced to Beckham by a mutual stylist friend.)

His Working-Class Childhood

“[New] Jersey’s the most parochial place in the world, but the Shore, from Red Bank to Point Pleasant, was a very great place for a kid to grow up. It’s a country club kind of mixed area with every kind of person there. All the way from the beach to Main Street, you could read the dollar sign on the houses. As little kids, we didn’t deal with class boundaries. We were all over one another.”

Hanging Out at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park Race Track…and Handicapping Horses

“Even that I felt was an advantage. I was a good handicapper. That’s where I got my spending money. The first car I bought was with racetrack money. Even when I worked at MGM, I ran football cards for the bookie there. In the entire season we paid off just two tickets. That’s how hard it is to pick three winners against a spread.”

His Catholic Family

“I’ve a very Catholic Irish grandmother, one of the Lynches. She is the root of the family, although my immediate family were failed Irish Catholics. So I had to haltingly investigate Catholicism by myself because nobody asked me to go to church. I was the oldest kid in my First Communion classes. In my opinion, if you’re going to be theocratic, Catholicism is the most intelligent belief system.”

“My family were tough-minded people who didn’t go much for what they called the ’shanty Irish’ or professional Irish. But they were Irish, and it manifested itself from an early age. I could always express my opinion, like everybody else, and things got talked about. I wasn’t inhibited by anything.”

The Passing of His Relatives

“My mother was the first to die, and then my grandmother. We were kind of on the outs because she thought I’d wasted enough time trying to make it in show business. I didn’t take well to the criticism. Then she got sick with cancer, and of course I took care of her.”

“The last time I saw her we talked quite a bit about life and death. You’ve got those bright, terminal eyes staring at you and asking you a lot of questions. I know everything about charity and hospitals because none of us had any money.”

Moving to Los Angeles

“In California, I didn’t know anybody except June [his birth mother], who was living here in Hollywood Park. She taught herself to type and worked her way up. I liked the idea of California. Anyway, I didn’t feel I was ready to go to college and work at night. I thought I’d stay here a semester and then go home to college. Frankly, when the time came to go back East, I didn’t have the money.”

“I always knew there wasn’t going to be anybody to help me and emotionally support me, that whatever I did I’d have to do on my own. It makes you rather desperate when you’re 16 and you don’t know what you want to do with your life, but you know you have to do something.”

Read the rest of the interview after the cut!

(more…)

Coppola: “They all live off the fat of the land.”

Francis Ford Coppola says he’s lost faith in what some would consider the greatest actors in the world. Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino all had their asses handed to them in the latest issue of GQ magazine where the world renowned director exposed them for what they really are. . .or have become.

Coppola, who has directed the three actors at one time or another, says all three have become disappointments as they’ve gotten older. . .and wealthier.

“I met both Pacino and De Niro when they were really on the come. They were young and insecure. Now Pacino is very rich, maybe because he never spends any money; he just puts it in his mattress. De Niro was deeply inspired by (Coppola’s studio American) Zoetrope and created an empire and is wealthy and powerful.

Nicholson was — when I met him and worked with him — he was always kind of a joker. He’s got a little bit of a mean streak. He’s intelligent, always wired in with the big guys and the big bosses of the studios.

I don’t know what any of them want anymore. I don’t know that they want the same things. Pacino always wanted to do theater … (He) will say, ‘Oh, I was raised next to a furnace in New York, and I’m never going to go to L.A.,’ but they all live off the fat of the land.

I think if there was a role that De Niro was hungry for, he would come after it. I don’t think Jack would. Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he’s a little bit like (Marlon) Brando, except Brando went through some tough times. I guess they don’t want to do it anymore.

You know, even in those days, after ‘The Godfather,’ I didn’t feel that those actors were ready to say, ‘Let’s do something else really ambitious.’ A guy like (38-year-old “Before Night Falls” star) Javier Bardem is excited to do something good: ‘Let me do this’ or ‘I’ll put stuff in my mouth, change my appearance.’ I don’t feel that kind of passion to do a role and be great coming from those guys, because if it was there, they would do it.”

Not one of the actors would comment.

And Hollywood wonders why fans have turned on them in recent years. Kudos to Coppola for having the balls to say what has been so obvious in Hollywood for quite sometime. Hollywood has gone to shit, basically. They don’t have to be a great actors or actresses anymore, yet they still reap the same rewards. It’s spoiled them and they’ve gotten lazy, unappreciative and uninspired.

Old Hollywood magic is gone. When people are more excited about a reality show than the latest blockbuster, it’s a sad day. And it’s here folks.

Source

Jack Nicholson still gets the bitches despite being a chunky, balding old guy with man boobs.

Would you hit it?

Jack Nicholson adorns the cover of the March 29, 1984 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine

Source: RollingStone.com

I just had to watch this years show being as it was hosted by Sarah Silverman.

And she didn’t disappoint.

The highlight of the evening for me was Sarah’s opening monologue.  Specifically when she mocked Paris Hilton going to jail..

"In a couple of days Paris Hilton is going to jail.  (laughter erupts) The judge says that it’s going to be a no frills thing, and that is totally ridiculous.  She is totally going to get special treatment.  In fact, I heard in order to make her feel more comfortable in prison the guards are gunna paint the bars to look like penises."

The audience roars..

"I think it’s wrong too.  I just worry that she is going to break her teeth on those things."

The crowd goes wild. Cameras cut to Paris looking pissed but forcing a smile…

Heh.