I had the pleasure today of interviewing Jack Nicholson via telephone about The Departed, the Martin Scorsese crime drama that is starting to pick up critical steam. My Q&A with Nicholson won't run until Oct. 1, but here's a preview of what he had to say when we talked about the movie's Oscar chances.
Q: A lot of people often say Scorsese has never won an Oscar because his best movies are too dark for the tastes of Academy voters. But you've won three of them, and you're not exactly Mr. Sunshine.
A: I’ve been very lucky in that area, as you say. I agree with you: It’s a bit harder to win with dark things than with more easily accessible things. But another big factor has to do with who else is nominated. We got a record number of nominations for Chinatown, and we only won one Oscar. And Stanley Kubrick never won an Oscar, to put that in proper perspective.
I think Martin feels the same way about it as I do: It will happen when it happens. I’d love to see him get it. This movie is certainly representative of his work and I think it’s also dang entertaining, so I wouldn’t be shocked if this was his time around. Gosh, who wouldn’t like to win an Oscar? But other than that, Martin just likes making movies, he gets to make them, and we’re all better off for it.
Cool cool cool.
Posted by: Brian Feldman | September 22, 2006 at 12:35 AM
Slowly but surely, I'm starting to get excited about this movie. On the Rotten Tomatoes page for The Departed, there's this quote from Scorsese: "Infernal Affairs is an example of why I love Hong Kong cinema, but my film is inspired by it, not a remake."
That's just what I wanted to hear.
Posted by: Juan B. | September 22, 2006 at 08:38 AM