Jack Nicholson, Lorenzo Agius and one very memorable day at The Beverly Hills Hotel
In 2007, Lorenzo Agius arrived at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles to photograph Jack Nicholson during the promotional period for The Bucket List.
The setting could hardly have been more Hollywood. The shoot took place in the Kennedy Monroe Bungalow, with Nicholson styled by Victoria Beckham and David Thomas.
What was meant to be a relatively short portrait session turned into hours of conversation, laughter and photography.
Lorenzo has told us that Jack was exactly as you would imagine him to be. Charming, sharp, funny and with that unmistakable mischievous glint in his eye.
In other words, very much Jack Nicholson.
And that personality came through in the photographs.
A shoot that took on a life of its own
For Lorenzo, Nicholson was far more than just another famous subject. He had admired him for years, and once the shoot began, the formality quickly disappeared.
They talked.
They laughed.
They kept shooting.
The planned session stretched on for hours, and the result was a series of portraits showing very different sides of Nicholson.
Some are elegant and composed.
Some are playful.
Some feel almost private.
And then there is the jump.
Lorenzo had been thinking about an old photograph of Sammy Davis Jr. jumping and clicking his heels together in mid-air. Nicholson knew the image well and had known Sammy personally.
So Lorenzo asked him if he would do it.
Jack agreed.
Lorenzo later remembered the moment simply:
“I had one shot.”
Nicholson jumped.
He clicked his heels together.
And Lorenzo caught him in mid-air, dressed in a suit and overcoat, with an expression that somehow says everything about the moment.
The photograph became one of Lorenzo Agius’ most recognisable portraits, and one he affectionately refers to as his “Jumping Jack” image.
But the quiet portraits are just as strong
The jumping photograph may be the most instantly playful image from the shoot, but some of the quieter portraits have become just as memorable.
One in particular has become a favourite among our clients at The PhotoGallery: the close-up portrait of Nicholson smoking, wearing dark sunglasses.
There is almost nothing happening in the frame.
No movement.
No elaborate setting.
Just Jack.
The glasses, the cigarette, the expression and that slightly knowing look that feels completely unmistakable.
It is one of the portraits we are asked about most often.
And perhaps that says something important about why these photographs work.
They do not try too hard to explain Jack Nicholson.
They simply let him be himself.
Exactly as you imagine him
There are some celebrities whose public persona feels carefully constructed.
Jack Nicholson has always seemed different.
The grin, the sunglasses, the confidence, the humour, the sense that he might be about to say something slightly inappropriate.
When Lorenzo speaks about photographing him, that is exactly the impression he gives.
The man in the photographs and the man in the room were not far apart.
That is probably why the session feels so relaxed.
There is no sense that Nicholson is trying to perform a different version of himself for
