Actors playing themselves

Jack Nicholson never acts.

That's not true. At least, it's not always been true.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

"I was talking to Sean Penn on the phone today. I told him it was interesting that they managed to leave me off this long list of Method actors they'd published in some article. I told him, "I'm still fooling them!" I consider it an accomplishment. Because there's probably no one who understands Method acting better academically than I do, or actually uses it more in his work. But it's funny -- nobody really sees that. It's perception versus reality, I suppose." - Jack Nicholson

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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019

Or he could just stop doing Angry Jack/Grumpy Jack/Manic Jack.

I thought this thread was about actors who appear as themselves in movies, like Bill Murray in Zombieland.

Apparently John Wayne stated that he always played John Wayne in his movies.

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“The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson

I think he kind of retired from acting in films anyway, so it doesn't really matter anymore.I agree though that he has certain characteristics in his acting that he often recycles in similar looking roles.

Oh well, I could look at Jack Nicholson all day, acting or not acting. His charism is just that overwhelming, in my opinion.

The only role which was not very Nicholson-ish was About Schmidt but then again,I think that his performance was quite weak there.That's the thing with Nicholson for me - I couldn't say that he's the greatest actor because he can play really well only himself.His performance in Cuckoo's Nest is the best acting I've seen but he is not the best actor out there.A great actor is the one that can be great in all types of roles.Well,that's my thinking.

What Nicholson movies have you seen?

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Easy Rider,Cuckoo's Nest,About Schmidt,Chinatown,Mars Attacks,The Departed,Batman,The Shining.I think I've seen Something's Gonna Give and The Witches of Eastwick but I'm not sure.And I know that's not even half of the films he's been in but they are quite popular and Nicholson is basically Nicholson in most of them.So I conclude that Nicholson is liked most when the plays himself.

I feel that Batman is to Nicholson as Silence Of The Lambs is to Hopkins. He was so praised and well paid for that, that it's as if they thought after those performances, "well, if that's all it takes, that's what I'll give 'em." Of course, it could be age thing?

What the hell are you people talking about?

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#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!

Really? I thought he was superb in that film. One of his best performances that I've seen.

I really believe he's one of the greatest actors of all time. He always puts a lot of himself in his role, but I find his performances very subtle and each one of them feels different and even special to me.

I was tempted to analyze all the films I've seen from him and in particular Jack's performances, but I'm going to sleep now, as it is already 4:00 AM here. I don't agree with the people who are stating that he's not an actor with a wide range, though.
I agree that he has a strong persona, but he uses it differently in each of his roles. Jack could play practically everything.


@Honeykid: Probably the age thing, but I always find him extremely watchable (also in his later films), as he's my favorite living actor and probably my second favorite actor of all time. I'm extremely biased, so I don't really notice any severe decline or laziness in his more recent acting.

I'd just like to make clear, in case I didn't, I think Nicholson is/was a fantastic actor, however, with the odd exception not since the late 80's, though I confess to not seeing everything he's done since then and I have heard that he's great in About Schmidt, in fact, I remember a friend who knows how I feel about Nicholson, telling me when it came out that I should see it, "as he's actually acting again in this." Whether that's true or not, I don't know. He got an Oscar for As Good As It Gets for Christ's sake.

I'd like to see The Pledge, as something tells me I'll like that.

Jack does have distinctive looks and delivery.

I think both The Pledge and The Crossing Guard are underrated.

I thought Nicholson was awesome in The Departed, other-wise I wasn't very big on his performance as The Joker. I didn't like the original Batman too much. I thought that they kind-of ruined the story with all of the tweaks.

I would agree that Seth Rogen plays some variation of himself in his films. The demented man-child that Adam Sandler has made a career out of I really don't think that's what Adam Sandler is at all and he proved it in SPANGLISH and PUNCH DRUNK LOVE.

Bill Murray seems to play Smart, Mopey, Sarcastic characters I imagine him like that only more content.

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"Don't just stare at it, Eat it!"

that's why I like new superhero movies - they are much more serious.

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"Anything less than immortality is a complete waste of time."

Matt Damon!!

I'll give an example of this that has some interesting variations: Doctor Who.

The most obvious actor, of the official 13 to date, that could be said to have played himself is Tom Baker. It's being very simplistic to say this but all he needed to do was turn up – he already had everything necessary to play the character. The same is also true of Sylvester McCoy, Matt Smith and Paul McGann.

Looking right back to the beginning you have two brilliant character actors in William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. The Doctors they play are created characters that don't match their own personalities too closely – drastically so in the case of Patrick Troughton.

Peter Davison said that he thought the producer saw him as a "personality" actor who would bring his particular style to the character and wanted him as a contrast to Tom Baker, but of course Davison's Doctor is far more layered and interesting than that over his era.

Jon Pertwee asked the producer how he wanted the Doctor played. "As you" came the reply, but Pertwee didn't really know what that was. He likened himself to Peter Sellers, saying that he'd always hidden "under a green umbrella" with his funny voices etc. Quite quickly he left the comedic side behind and opted for a very serious and heroic Doctor – I think of his Third Doctor being a lot like Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes.