They both turned 70 this year.
"The first time I felt young for my age," jokes Nicholson. "I think we all try to say we are not affected by this, but something about the number, I thought, 'Geez, I'm in pretty good form; I'm going pretty strong here.' "
"If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!" says Freeman.
They both still have a kind of restlessness, but in Freeman's case, it's led him to pilot planes, steer yachts and own various businesses. Nicholson appears more the armchair traveler, ensconced in his home devouring books about science, politics, literature and hard-boiled fiction. Jack likes to talk, meander, digress and entertain.
"They couldn't be more different. That's what works in the movie," says Rob Reiner, who directed "The Bucket List" and has known Nicholson since the '70s. In the film, Nicholson plays an irascible hospital magnate with all the money in the world but no friends and a daughter who won't talk to him. Freeman tackles the role of a brainy garage mechanic who forswore his dreams in order to provide for his family. "Both of these guys play right out of themselves," says Reiner. "The character is an extension of themselves. Morgan is this calm, Zen-like person. Jack is all over the place, very passionate, larger than life. They have a way of rubbing off on each other. Morgan can take a lot of Jack's energy, and Jack can take a lot of Morgan's calmness."
Reiner adds that right before shooting Nicholson had been in the hospital for the first time in his life. "It was very upsetting to him and very scary," says Reiner, "and to be doing a part that touches on issues of mortality. He took from the experience in the hospital and brought it to the character."
"It was just a procedure, but it tired me out," says Nicholson. "There are a few lines in [the film] like, 'Can't you use the same blood?' that came right out of my stay. I had it fixed so that every two minutes [his character is getting his blood drawn.] Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood."
Nicholson still smokes, but apparently less than he used to and not at all during this interview, out of deference to Freeman, a reformed smoker. "I can tell you this from 100% experience. No one has ever criticized me in any way about smoking that, while they were saying it, it didn't inflame my desire to smoke," says Nicholson. Add on top a life spent in the cinema, which has been like one long trigger in his brain. "Generationally, for us, in the movie business, whenever somebody was tense in the movie, you'd see him sweating against the wall or lighting up. It's all conditioning, really."
