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Michael Douglas Updates on Jack Nicholson's Rare Public Life
Confirmed
In Short: Michael Douglas provided a rare update on his longtime friend Jack Nicholson during a promotional event for his memoir, 'One Helluva Ride,' in Swansea, Wales.
Michael Douglas provided a rare update on his longtime friend Jack Nicholson during a promotional event for his memoir, 'One Helluva Ride,' in Swansea, Wales.
Douglas said, 'He is up there by his house and walking around in his slippers,' indicating that Nicholson is doing well but has largely disappeared from public life.
Nicholson, 89, has not appeared in a film since 2010's 'How Do You Know' and has made only a few public appearances since then.
Douglas noted, 'He’s not working any more. He’s well. He has disappeared. I know that.' He added, 'When you look at that baseball scene, with him rallying all the patients to watch the game on TV, that’s just his inherent nature.'
In a 2017 interview with 'The Guardian,' Douglas recalled how Nicholson encouraged everyone involved in the production to deliver their best performances.
Douglas also mentioned that Nicholson's decision to step away from acting was a blessing for the film's casting, saying, 'The postponement of Jack was actually a tremendous blessing for how great this picture was cast.'
Nicholson's friend, music producer Lou Adler, told the WTF podcast that Nicholson now prefers to spend his time 'sitting under a tree and reading a book.'
Douglas, who produced Nicholson's Oscar-winning film 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' in 1975, said he still sees his longtime friend and understands his decision to step away from Hollywood.
Douglas expressed his admiration for Nicholson, saying, 'I’m going into the family business because we’re so close and he’s such an inspiration. I admire him so much.'
What this adds
Nicholson has not officially announced his retirement but has largely stayed away from the public eye since 2010.
Douglas's update comes after a rare public appearance by Nicholson in February 2025 when he introduced Adam Sandler at the SNL50: The Anniversary Special event.
What's confirmed
- “He is up there by his house and walking around in his slippers,” Douglas said.
- “I would have liked to have acted with Jack,” Douglas said at the event, as reported by 'The Independent'.
What's still developing
- “But I was sort of hesitant. I didn’t bring it up yet. I thought it was a little presumptuous for me in my first production role. Then Brad Dourif did his audition, and he killed it. And I said, ‘Well, that’s that.’” The film ultimately became an enormous hit, earning approximately $163 million at the box office.
- “When he’d done the show on Broadway, his career was in a different place — and different age-wise. So yes, that was my job: having to tell my dad,” Douglas told Entertainment Weekly last year.
- Jack has not appeared in a movie since the 2010 romantic comedy How Do You Know, which also starred Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, and Owen Wilson.
- He served as a producer on 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo ‘s nest, in which Jack starred as Randle McMurphy.
- Nicholson last made a rare public appearance in February 2025 when he introduced Adam Sandler from the audience at the SNL50: The Anniversary Special event.
- Nicholson, 89, has never officially announced his retirement, but he has not acted since 2010’s How Do You Know, and has rarely been photographed since then either.
- In his memoir One Helluva Ride, Douglas wrote about his marriage to Welsh actor Catherine Zeta-Jones, as well as his flings with his Romancing the Stone co-star Kathleen Turner and his Basic Instinct co-star Jeanne Tripplehorn.
- "The movie business is the greatest business, but I only want to do films that move people, films about emotions and people," Nicholson told Vanity Fair in 2013, explaining that he's less driven to "be out there any more."
- Cuthbert—best known for starring in '00s films like Old School as well as hit TV shows including 24 and Happy Endings —added, "I just felt like I needed to be at home with the kids and I enjoyed every minute."
- Brooks teased last year that "we'll soon be seeing" Jack Nicholson, 89, act again, and that he was "reading scripts," that idea has now been shut down by his close friend Michael Douglas, 82.
- The Wall Street star said that his father recognized Nicholson’s “great performance” in the film.
- “There’s a part of me that says, you know, I can play the Billy Bibbit part,” he recalled.