Danny DeVito recently gave a rare update on his close friend Jack Nicholson, reflecting on their 50-year bond.
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“I just saw Jack a couple of weeks ago — it was his birthday a month ago, and he’s great,” the veteran actor told PEOPLE.
Nicholson, 88, is rarely seen in public these days. While he’s been absent from his usual courtside seat at Los Angeles Lakers games, he appeared on-camera during SNL50: The Anniversary Special in February to celebrate 50 years of Saturday Night Live.
DeVito spoke with PEOPLE about his experience working on his breakthrough film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, ahead of its 50th anniversary re-release by Fathom Entertainment on July 13 and 16.
DeVito’s Been Close to Nicolson for 50 Years
Danny DeVito, 80, told the outlet that he has stayed in regular contact with Jack Nicholson after bonding over their New Jersey roots while working on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. DeVito’s next film after that, before rising to TV fame on Taxi, was the Nicholson-directed 1978 comedy Goin’ South.
DeVito and Nicholson also appeared together in several films, including Terms of Endearment (1983), Hoffa (1992), and Mars Attacks! (1996).
DeVito shared how he and fellow young actors, including Christopher Lloyd and Brad Dourif, were impressed by Jack Nicholson while filming One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at a state sanitarium in Portland, Oregon. Nicholson’s performance earned him his first Best Actor Oscar, followed by two more for Terms of Endearment and As Good as It Gets.
“We’re in the presence of this guy who’s really at his moment, where he was breaking out into the big time,” DeVito gushed to PEOPLE.
Danny DeVito Says Jack Nicholson Remained Grounded Due to His Humble Beginnings
Despite Nicholson’s rising fame, DeVito notes that the actor stayed remarkably grounded.
“There was no need for an icebreaker,” DeVito recalled. “He was immediately just so embracing…He started out exactly the way everybody else did, where he couldn’t get a job. It was like he came to Hollywood and he was going to just write and direct, and then Easy Rider comes along after the [Roger] Corman stuff… So he was in our milieu, and he was always just as open and genuine, and we all felt it immediately.”
“Of course, he was doing it because he’s that way,” DeVito pointed out, “and he was also doing it because that had to be, because we had to be all joined at the hip in that movie, and we had such great performances.”
Meanwhile, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest became the second film in history to win all five major Academy Awards, including Best Picture and acting honors for Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. Directed by Milos Forman, it remains a universally acclaimed masterpiece.
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