All About the Hustle
As I write this blog entry, I just yesterday released Episode 2 of my new podcast You Don’t Know Jack. For those of you who are following it, first of all thank you, and secondly, you remember how I said in my first episode that I will be grouping together all of Jack’s early works by year up until we reach his breakthrough role with Easy Rider (1969). Well, I didn’t know what was awaiting me as I ventured into my movie-watching for Episode 2. I reviewed Too Soon To Love, The Wild Ride, Studs Lonigan and the original Little Shop of Horrors, all from 1960.
I had a full day off the week before, so I settled in and watched the first three back to back to back, with a couple Bloody Marys to accompany me. I caught up on Roger Corman’s Little Shop of Horrors the next day. I was more impressed than I thought I would be. I wanted to give each of the four movies the time and the attention that I felt they each deserved. I wanted to treat each one like they were a Best Picture Oscar winner, rather than a low-budget black and white feature buried in the late 1950s. It was an undertaking, to say the least. I actually ended up pulling an all-nighter the next night working on my script.
Now granted, a lot of B-movies out there are noticeably cheap, the acting is not the best, the props and special effects are…well…laughable, usually. That’s their charm. But I’m here to tell you, don’t sleep on B-movies. While their budget is low, and they weren’t distributed by any major Hollywood studios, every once in a while you will find a great story, an original story. One forgotten about because it was never famous even at the time of its release. You will find a lot of young actors, just getting their feet wet in the movie business, just as a young Jack Nicholson was with these four projects that year.
Something I said at the end of Episode 2 that bears repeating: You have got to respect the hustle. I’m sure I’ll be saying that more in the episodes to come. When I was a kid, I — like a lot of other kids — had big dreams of Hollywood and fame and fortune and other delusions of grandeur. But did I have enough nerve to move out to Los Angeles at the age of 17, just to try my hand? No, absolutely not. Some people are wired differently. It can be a number of different factors, whether it’s courage, or foolhardiness, or determination. And not to mention, the ’50s were a different time, especially if you were a charming, young Caucasian male. But that doesn’t guarantee success. People move out to the west coast all the time with stars in their eyes.
So I think about a young Jack, entering into his 20s, taking acting classes and going to auditions and taking whatever acting gig would come his way. It’s almost hard to imagine that there was a time where he was just starting out, not knowing if he’d ever find success. But here’s what we know for a fact: Once young Jack first got out west, he never stopped working. He got a job in the MGM animation department, which was under the direction of the legendary Hanna-Barbera duo. He enlisted in the California Air National Guard, all while still going on auditions and getting acting roles. And he didn’t do what many new inexperienced actors do, which is always play themselves in every role they get. For example, Jack’s characters of Johnny Varron in The Wild Ride vs. Wilbur Force in Little Shop of Horrors, are two entirely different animals.
It’s a privilege, of course, to have youth. But how many young Hollywood hopefuls have that level of fire inside of them while not already knowing anyone in the business? It’s truly all about the hustle, and in the long run it paid off royally.
I’m inspired and I’m almost 36. It makes me want to do better with whatever projects I take on, because it reminds me that you never really know what the future holds.
Sarah DiMeo hosts the new Jack Nicholson inspired #CMGPodcast: You Don’t Know Jack
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