|  A
connoisseur of ladies, Nicholson was particularly
bewitched by Pfeiffer, and in 1993 they would
work together again. But on Witches Nicholson
sealed their friendship by giving Pfeiffer a
custom-made gold watch. On the face of it was
a small red devil. It's part of Pfeiffer's treasured
movie memorabilia collection.
Pfeiffer did not read Updike's book before
filming began (I didn't
want to have any preconceptions'), but
lots of other people had. Particularly, the
people of Little Compton, Rhode Island, the
New England town that was originally chosen
as the location of the film. Well, these good
folks didn't want a film, a sexually explicit
film at that, of modern witchcraft being made
in their neighbourhood. They became tireless
zealots in the cause against allowing filming.
George Miller and
his cast were just not going to have an easy
time. It was as though someone/thing had cast
a spell over the whole enterprise. Even real-life
witches rather than the Hollywood ones staged
protests.
 The
trio of Witches all adored Nicholson,
and Pfeiffer found
that there was much to learn by being around
such familiar faces. It hit her quickly that
although she was well known she was not an icon
– not the equivalent of a brand name like
Cher or Nicholson.
'Sometimes I would go
shopping for groceries,' she recalls,
adding, 'They would not
let me leave things at the store so that I could
have somebody come and pick them up. I had to
schlepp them through the rain and to the elevator.
Now, normally, when you get into an elevator
with all these bags, people ask you what floor
you're trying to get. But I asked these people
to press floor number three, and they would
look at me like I was crazy.
'This helped me to appreciate
Jack and Cher even more. Here were people who
had been in this business for so long and who
had so much power but could still be so gracious.
It really made me feel very small sometimes.
I guess the point is that, at that time, people
were really weird towards me in terms of my
being well known. If they did not know who I
was they would treat me like dirt. Once they
know who you are they treat you like a god.'
 Nicholson
did not behave like a god during Witches. He
and the stellar coven would lunch in his trailer
and rehearse among themselves. One evening before
filming began, he went to the women's hotel
at 7 p.m. and rehearsed with them until 6 a.m.
Cher remembers:
"He was amazing.
We'd never get that kind of consideration from
anybody else. I wanted to be in Witches because
of Jack. He was like the jewel, and we women
were the setting. That scene where he crawls
across the bed in a sexy way, telling me how
he likes to have a little poke after lunch,
I was laughing so hard I was biting a hole on
the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
For Pfeiffer it was a miracle to be working
with such talents although she admits she was
astonished when George
Miller told her that he wanted to work
with her again: 'I was
a bear on that film. I was a bitch. When George
said he wanted to work with me again I was completely
shocked.'
 This
close-knit coven did play the game for the locals
when the Spenser: For
Hire crew, from the television series
filmed on location in Massachusetts, challenged
the Witches crew to a softball game. Actor Robert
'Spenser' Urich
led his team out one Saturday afternoon, but
there was no sign of the Witches'. Then a limousine
purred up to the park and out wandered Pfeiffer,
Cher and Sarandon.
They were dressed as cheerleaders with white
T-shirts inscribed with EASTWICK HIGH SCHOOL.
This levity, said Pfeiffer, was only possible
because of the easy-going calm Nicholson
brought to the location filming. Nicholson,
like Sarandon, has learned over the years to
live the hand dealt. And he had every reason
to be comfortable with three female co-stars.
When asked about Witches in 1992, he laughed,
'I studied to play the
Devil. But... a lot of people think I've been
preparing for it all my life.' Nicholson,
of course, leaves the sentence with a demonic
grin. His background as a ladies' man is intriguing,
and in his trailer he would explain what an
actor can take from a wealth of background.
What Nicholson
lives by is attitude. And he taught that to
Pfeiffer. Attitude |
Spain.
