'Let's Just Have Some Fun'.(Jack Nicholson at the Cannes Film Festival)(Brief Article)(Interview)

A chat with Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson has been a Cannes Film Festival regular since he smuggled in reels of the then revolutionary movie "Easy Rider" in hatboxes back in 1969. This year he was back in the French town to celebrate the premiere in competition of "About Schmidt," the touching comedic drama by young director Alexander Payne that stars Nicholson as a retired insurance actuary in Omaha, Nebraska, who confronts the mistakes he's made in his life. During a press conference promoting the film in the Palais des Festivals last week, Nicholson regaled reporters, including NEWSWEEK's Dana Thomas, with stories about the old days at Cannes, his thoughts on Hollywood's new generation of directors and reflections on his long and extraordinary career as an actor, director and American icon. Excerpts from the session:

Can you talk about your special relationship with the Cannes Film Festival?

NICHOLSON: It does mean a lot to me, coming; smuggling films in and running around the Marche is where I met all the people I know in the film business. All of them are here now. They're a little bit grayer, but they are still here, still working, still stimulating. We had a great time when we came here with "Easy Rider." We were free to get loaded in those days, so the festival was a little more rockin' than it can be in the streets today. That was good. We don't have anybody here anymore who wears a tuxedo like Lucchino Visconti did, but we'll do the best we can, you know. But it's nice to be here. It's good to be here again. I have to get up earlier to walk the Croisette, but I still do it.

How do you keep Jack Nicholson out of the roles you play as an actor?

That's always the hard job for an actor, you know. Anyone can act once or twice--they don't know who you are. But then you have to unconvince them of who you are, like in "About Schmidt," [in which] Alexander asked me to play a small man. Every job is different, every character's different. That's what makes it interesting. Otherwise, you wouldn't keep doing it. ...