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A STAR of A Few Good Men – seen as a masterclass in acting with screen legends Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise – has lifted the lid on behind the scenes as the film celebrates 30 years.
Established actor Kevin Pollak, who appeared in Rob Reiner’s legal film back in 1992, says when the cameras weren’t rolling it was a laugh-a-minute with the Hollywood icons.
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The movie, which made a staggering $243.2million at the Box Office, saw Cruise deliver his best-ever performance as rookie Navy attorney Daniel Kaffee who defends Marines accused of murder.
Nicholson played his unforgiving senior officer Colonel Jessup, while Demi Moore proved she could stand toe-to-toe with the two movie superstars as fellow lawyer JoAnne Galloway.
And then there was Kevin Pollak, who took on the role of Lt. Sam Weinberg and told The U.S. Sun he has unforgettable memories of being on set.
He said Nicholson, 85, regularly “busted his balls” because his mom was flirting with him, even telling the panic-ridden young actor: “Kev… get your mom off my a**.”
Kevin recalled: “My mom arrived and within eight seconds she casually strolls onto the set and starts chatting up Jack Nicholson … chatting him up! I was too mortified to even speak.
“A little later, we’re shooting a scene, and I’m sitting across from Jack, and looking at him, and all I can see is my crazy pants-mother over his shoulder, having the time of her life!
“She’d forgotten about me long ago, now that she’s six inches away from Jack Nicholson. So my mom is freaking me the f**k out.
“She’s in my eye-line and she was chatting him up so comfortably, but I had no idea what she was saying because I can’t hear because I’m 40 ft away.
“Unfortunately, Jack sees how much I’m squirming and quietly freaking out about all this, and seeing me that uncomfortable was like a party for Jack.
“So in between takes, Jack got up off the stand and walked over to the table where we were all sitting and he says: ‘Hey Kev, how’s it going? I’m wondering if you could do me a favor? I’m hoping you might be able to get your mom off my a**? You think you might be able to handle that?”
Nicholson hilariously added: “I wouldn’t mind so much, but she’s hitting on me. What the hell am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to take your mom back to my trailer? Is that what you want?”
Kevin, 65, laughed: “Luckily, I knew he was just playing with me and busting my balls.
“It was unbelievable but very funny. I laughed.”
Kevin admits that after that early encounter, thanks to his mom, Jack’s sarcastic comments broke the ice between them.
BIG PAY DAY
“Jack was getting half a million dollars a day, and I would tease him about it actually because I had heard he was getting five million for ten days.
“So the joke I said to him was, ‘Jack, I’m just curious. I don’t know the exact amount that you’re making, but I know it’s a lot. So I’ve got to ask, do you hit the snooze alarm when it goes off? Or do you race into the shower because you can’t wait to start such an overpaid day?’ And Jack just laughed.”
The Shining star also pulled a comedy stunt on Top Gun actor Cruise, according to Kevin.
“Jack can be silly and goofy. One of the most memorable moments was when Jack was on the stand and he’s saying to Tom, ‘You want answers?’ And Tom is saying, ‘I want the truth!’
“Well, when the camera is on Tom, Jack screws up his face and waggles his tongue. He was totally f***king with him and Tom stayed in character for the whole take. And as ‘Cut!’ was yelled, Tom punched Jack in the shoulder and everybody laughed. It was unbelievable.
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“Everyone was f***ing off every day, all day.”
Kevin says Tom, 60, made him feel at ease from the first moment they met in his trailer, and often enjoyed jokes on set in between takes.
“I remember being in the make-up trailer and telling somebody that it was my eighth film and Tom overheard and said, ‘This is your eighth already? Man, I’ve only done six!’ And I said, ‘Tom, you’ve starred in six films, you’re a movie star. I’ve acted in eight, as a character actor.
SET HIJINKS
“It just felt ridiculous to me. Just to have met those people would have been enough, seriously. Within the first nine seconds of me being there, the giant movie star that is Tom Cruise treated me as his equal, just like that, instantly.
“And so the stand-up comedian in me found myself giving s**t to Tom about whatever I wanted because we became equals and friends within two hours.”
One ongoing gag fired off at Tom by Kevin was over a larger pen that the multi-time Oscar nominee used to make notes on his script.
He recalled: “I found myself saying, ‘Hey Tom, they don’t make a bigger pen? You know what, I’ll bet they do. Come on, let’s go find one.’
“Tom laughed the first eleven times I made fun of the pen, but eventually, he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, funny – try writing with the pen.’ So I take the pen and oh Jesus, that pen was like an angel wing floating on a cloud. It had its own kind of suspension system. But I loved that pen.”
A few weeks later Tom gave Kevin the pen gift-wrapped – and it prompted more comedy soon after.
“Later I used a different pen, and Tom says, ‘Kev, where’s the pen?’ And I say, ‘Tom, I can’t use the pen! The pen goes on a mantle in my house with a pen light hitting it just right. When people come to the house Tom, I’ll point to the pen and I’ll tell them the story about the pen and it’ll be the greatest f***ing pen story they’ll ever hear! But no Tommy, I can’t, I can’t use the pen, because if I use the pen I might lose the pen and that can never f***ing happen.’
CRITICAL SUCCESS
“Tom laughed. A week later Tom’s assistant handed me another wrapped gift and says, ‘Tom wants you to use the other pen.’ So now, in my home on the mantle are two pens in their boxes.”
The camaraderie on set with the men was also noticed by their one female co-star Demi, with Kevin describing the actress as “so lovely and sweet.”
“She really wanted to look after us and would bring in special treats and cakes for the whole crew,” he said.
“She’s so lovely and wonderful, and we had a scene where I’m supposed to turn on Demi and yell at her and be really angry, but all I could see was this sweet, sweet wonderful face of hers and I couldn’t get it right.”
Kevin, who has now starred in more than 80 movies, says while watching his co-stars was fascinating, his own character work was sometimes dull.
“So the courtroom stuff was incredibly boring for me – I’m basically sitting there feeling like the highest paid extra.”
Kevin claims that he still pinches himself today for landing the role as Tom’s co-counsel in the stellar project, written by Aaron Sorkin, and co-starring Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, and Cuba Gooding Junior.
A Few Good Men was not only a Box Office smash but a critical success, earning four Oscar nods, including Best Picture.
Kevin laughed: “I had no formal training as an actor and had never been to an acting class. I started out as a stand-up comedian and never thought I was going to be the best stand-up comedian in any way shape, or form, but I did want to use it to get into acting, I just never thought it would happen on such a big level.
“After that, I never auditioned again.
“A Few Good Men was a juggernaut, and still is to this day. It’s on some network every week, it’s absurd.”
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