Michael Keaton admits wild Jack Nicholson’s partying ways were 'wasted on him'

4 September 2024

Michael Keaton has admitted that the times he used to party with Jack Nicholson were "wasted on him”.

Michael Keaton admits wild Jack Nicholson’s partying ways were 'wasted on him'

The 72-year-old star says despite the perks of partying with the three-time Oscar winner – whom he met working on 1989’s ‘Batman’ – including travelling on a private jet and going to exclusive bars, that scene wasn’t for him, and he actually much prefers the intellectual chats the pair have together.

Speaking to the new issue of PEOPLE magazine about the 87-year-old Hollywood legend – whose wild days included visits to the late Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion – he said: “I just really liked him. He's really, really intelligent. Really. A real reader. Just has an innate intelligence, and then a self-taught intelligence. ... Because he devours books. Always something to talk about. Very opinionated about things when you're in a conversation.

“He took me to Paris in a jet. I was like a Boy Scout. I was ready to go out like a normal person. Jack didn’t get out of his room until like 10pm or 10:30pm.

“Jack was having a ball. He had the biggest grin on his face. I headed back to the hotel before him and I remember thinking 'This is fun, but it’s kind of wasted on me.’ ”

Keaton is also best known for his titular role in 1988’s 'Beetlejuice' and admitted that he almost didn't take the role when offered it by director Tim Burton because he "didn't get the character” and couldn’t understand the quirky filmmaker.

He told the magazine: “I just said, ‘I don't know what it is, and he'd probably be better off getting someone else because I don't get it.’ Not like, ‘I don't get it. I thought it was bad.’ I literally didn't know what it was."

However, they quickly hit it off and he has just reprised the role for the sequel ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.

He continued: “My gut said, ‘This guy is something. For sure, something.’ Plus, I just liked him. I liked him as a person. I got along with him, and he seemed like my kind of eccentric artist.”