11. The Voice
Now gravelly with age, that slow, dry-voiced drawl is unmistakeable and has helped lend an array of memorable characters an air of distinction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKikZLRdJVE
12. The Delivery
It helps to have the voice, but it's also advantageous to deliver lines with some finesse. The way Nicholson chews on his words makes even the most banal lines interesting...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxKVdugfU-U
13. Is Completely Independent
Thanks to his massive and extremely smart receipts based salary on Batman (an estimated $60 million), beginning in the 90's Nicholson has had the luxury to pick and choose his projects which means he can afford to wait until the ideal character part comes along. This would explain the four year gap between
As Good As It Gets and
The Pledge. Though maybe he ran out of cash when Anger Management came along....
14. Follows His Own Method
Although he experimented with The Method style of acting early on in his career Nicholson decided it wasn't for him. His own method allows room for a greater instinctual approach which embraces improvisation:
"If you get an impulse in a scene, no matter how wrong it seems, follow the impulse. It might be something and if it ain't - there's always take two!"
15. Consistently Good
While Marlon Brando went off the rails and Robert De Niro and Al Pacino burnt out and became predictable in old age, Jack Nicholson remains consistently good and continues to surprise. Forgetting his somewhat maniac incarnations in the 1980s, the 1990s brought an array of scene stealers (
A Few Good Men, Hoffa, The Crossing Guard, As Good As It Gets) while the 2000's brought intense character studies (
The Pledge, About Schimdt and
The Departed). If anything, Nicholson appears to improve with the passing years.