LOS ANGELES: Director Rob Reiner has revealed Jack Nicholson was in full form in the hair-raising courtroom ending scene of "A Few Good Men" such that the Hollywood veteran gave the same flawless performance over seven takes.
Nicholson played the arrogant and corrupt Colonel Nathan Jessup in the 1992 film.
Inarguably one of the most well-written scenes (by Aaron Sorkin) till date, Tom Cruise's Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee gets Jessup to admit he ordered Code Red.
In an interview to PeopleTV, Reiner said, as Nicholson would give his "testimony" in full throttle, the camera would move around the courtroom to get reaction shots from Cruise, Demi Moore, and Kevin Bacon, among others.
The director told Nicholson he could take it a bit easy as he was not in focus but the actor refused to do so.
"Every single time off camera, he gave the exact same performance as you're seeing now. We did it five, six, seven times, and I kept saying, 'Jack, why don't you save a little bit for when we come around?'
"He said (impersonating Nicholson), 'You don't understand Rob, I love to act. And I don't get that much of a chance with great parts like this'. It was exactly the same performance," Reiner said.