Michael Douglas and Jack Nicholson share one of Hollywood’s longest and most prominent friendships, but the two never shared the screen.
In a new interview with The Independent, Douglas said that, despite having produced Nicholson’s career-defining classic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), he expressed regret that he never got to work alongside his friend as an actor.
“I would have liked to have acted with Jack,” Douglas said in the interview. “He’s not working any more. He’s well. He has disappeared. I know that.”
Nicholson, a Hollywood titan of similar stature, was last seen in a film nearly sixteen years ago, in the James L. Brooks-directed romantic comedy How Do You Know, alongside Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, and Paul Rudd.
In the interview, Douglas confirmed that Nicholson, who turns 90 in April, is no longer acting. While Nicholson never confirmed his retirement after his final film appearance in 2010, it was largely assumed that the three-time Oscar winner had bowed out of the business for good.
Even outside of acting, Nicholson has rarely been seen in the last decade and a half, with his last known public appearance being a photo of him featured in an Instagram post from his daughter, celebrating his 89th birthday.
Douglas, however, provided a more optimistic update for fans of Nicholson. While the legend of the industry has stopped working, he is in good spirits and is enjoying his retirement, according to his friend, who still meets up with him regularly.
“I still see him,” Douglas said further on in the interview. “He is up there by his house and walking around in his slippers.”
Douglas, who is 82 years old, may have no current plans to retire himself, but the actor expressed an understanding of why Nicholson decided to call it a day when he got older, despite all of his success.
“It happens,” the actor continued. “[Jack] deserves it. I understand. He is a few years older than me, but I understand.”
