Kevin Pollak Shares an AMAZING Jack Nicholson Story from ‘A Few Good Men’ | The Rich Eisen Show

last time you were here you told your perspective of the big scene from the finished A Few Good Men um obviously from the Nicholson point of view do you got a good Tom Cruise story from that point of view from that huge final scene anything that that you watched him go through well I know you've had Rob Reiner on the show I thought he was a great guest and he told a great stories about Jack saying I just love acting Robbie that classic thing but we rehearsed on that movie like I haven't before or since uh like a play so they took a sound stage and they put tape on the Florida where everyone would stand and be and we rehearsed for weeks and it started with Tom Cruise to me more and myself by the way this my being brought up to the majors this movie I had done a handful of films I died in Denzel's arms spoiler alert on Ricochet but but uh this was brought up to the majors for sure and everyone's famous in this movie but me I'm where's Waldo and the cat so while we're at this rehearsal I am waiting for someone to tap me on their shoulder and I'm not kidding and say I'm sorry we've made a horrible error we met Kevin Klein can you come with us over here but minute one Cruz is treating me like an equal the moment I arrive which is just being professional I suppose but it wasn't necessary to me right but that's what happened so now a couple days of rehearsal and the first thing you realize is Rob Reiner gives What actors call line readings that is to say after you've done something the way the director might articulate what he would like from the actor is to act out the moment themselves and most actors hate line readings because whoa whoa were you saying not like that I should do it like you're doing it right it's just an unspoken agreement that directors should not give line readings but Rob has always been a great actor so he just gets caught up in the emotion of the what he's describing in the scene and he starts acting out the moments and so it's a learning curve for Tom to me and I those first couple of days oh he's not saying stop doing it your way you're horrible this is the only way he knows to articulate yes and he's very passionate when doing it so you kind of get caught up in it and it's kind of inspiring and wonderful but we did get used to it so then Jack Nicholson joins us to rehearse that Soliloquy on the stand where Tom to me and I are already used to this but we know what's coming so we see Jack Nicholson act out the Soliloquy on the stand for the first time in this rehearsal setting and he is letter perfect it's redonkulous he's 92 percent of what we're going to see in the film and we're now we're waiting for him to finish like anticipating oh here it comes and so Rob says that was great that was incredible oh my God Jack I can't believe I mean I knew you were going to be great but that was even better I don't even you know the thing where you say about the and he's now if you had a camera looking down from the rafters of the five people gathered you would see Rob hovering hovering over Jack who's seated in a chair and you would see a straight line standing of Tom to me and I as we eat all stepped back in unison two feet while Rob is giving line readings to Jack and he finishes acting out because he can't stop and Rob ends up doing like the whole second half of the soliloquy and Jack's just staring at him the whole time and Rob finishes and Jack says yes well I guess I'm not there yet and you know thankfully everyone burst out laughing because it was it could have gone awkward really fast yeah and also that was just a cool way of saying I'll take the notes you know I'm I'm I'm thanks uh you know I don't remember asking what you thought sort of thing yeah but also Jack was the goofball I I expected someone that cool to be aloof you'd have to talk about him not to him I had a tough time even though we're technically co-stars just just saying hello I thought this guy doesn't want to suffer fools he's not he doesn't care about small talk even in the in the makeup trailer first thing in the morning you walk in you know there's eight barber chairs lined up you get into one of them they make you look better I go in there I'd see Jack's already in his chair I go to the far end yeah get away from give him his space I just Kiefer Sutherlands in the film a few scenes he had no problem walking right up to Jack hey Jack how you going you want to get a beer after work and I was just how and you know in Jack's Rags that sounds great Keith what time do you suppose that uh to be and they just so easy um did I tell you the story when uh word hits the set that Magic Johnson is HIV positive and that happened while we were shooting on a few years and so you know that was for the heterosexual community uh an h-bomb going off it was no longer their problem it was our problem that's the way heterosexuals this was a high profile Family Man very famous yes and every uh person who who had written it off is not our concern was instantly walking zombie Shore Jack knew him personally and and so I see all day long people going up to Jack from the crew what does this mean what does this mean people just wanted answers yeah what does this mean to me and my family and and he of course would talk to everybody so later in the afternoon I'm walking from set back to my trailer on a a break of some sort and I hear somebody mumbling behind me and I turn back and it's Jack and he's like three feet away it's surreal it's just surreal the whole damn thing is surreal and again I'm not going to engage just let him have his moment he gets to his trailer he puts his hand on the door and he stops and he turns to me and he says you want to know surreal and of course I'm thinking I'm sorry Jack Nicholson did you just ask me if I wanted to know what you think is surreal right I pull up a chair and uh he says I'm doing this picture Chinatown I'm sorry Jack Nicholson did you just start a story with I'm doing this picture I'm doing this picture Chinatown and I'm rehearsing this scene with John Houston and uh you have to understand the man was like an idol of mine he was a surrogate father I worshiped the ground He Walked on he would meant more to me than my own family and while we're rehearsing this scene I see over his shoulder about 50 yards away his daughter Angelica walking towards the set to visit and I I had just started banging her about three weeks oh my God and uh and so I I realized I hadn't told the old man yet and I didn't know how to break it to him I didn't know how to I didn't want to upset him I didn't want him to be angry with me I didn't want to disappoint him I would have killed her if that's what he wanted and I'm thinking all these things as we're rehearsing the scene and I come out of those thoughts and get back into the rehearsal at the exact moment that his character says to mine Mr Giddish are you sleeping with my daughter now that's surreal and he turns on a dime and he walks into his trailer and I'm standing in a parking lot thinking and saying out loud did anybody else see that what what what the absolute hell just happened what you so badly needed to share that story that I got we've barely spoken to each other you lay that at my feet and then just stroll into your trailer and shut the door Jack Nicholson you can't handle the truth fantastic you immediately tell someone that like I did yes of course yeah I I didn't I didn't tell it publicly for probably almost 20 years and uh this is the first uh uh broadcast I've told it well I will never watch Chinatown the same way again not that scene anyways catch the rich eyes and show every single day on the Roku Channel 12 to 3 Eastern for free

Channel: The Rich Eisen Show

Views: 1,463,774

Keywords: Rich Eisen, Rich Eisen Show, sports, NFL, football, NBA, basketball, MLB, baseball, pop culture, Roku, NFL Network, Chris Brockman, TJ Jefferson, Del Tufo, Super Bowl, NFL Draft, Roku Channel, Kevin Pollak, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Don Rickles, Casino Movie, Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, The Usual Suspects, a Few Good Men, Rachel Brosnanhan, Jack Nicholson, Rob Reiner, Magic Johnson, Lakers, 49ers, Brock Purdy, Tony Shalhoub, Marin Hinkle, Alex Borstein

Id: uQnp9WeBz5s

Length: 8min 49sec (529 seconds)

Published: Mon May 08 2023