Is George the New Jack? Clooney Filling Nicholson's Role at Oscars

By Jo Piazza Posted Mar 8th 2010 08:00PM

In the absence of the venerable Jack Nicholson at last night's Academy Awards, we couldn't help but wonder -- has George Clooney stepped in to take over Jack's schtick? Just as Jack would sit front row, a gorgeous and much younger lady draped on his arm, sunglasses firmly in place (because you just don't deserve to know who Jack is looking at), taking a drubbing from the Oscar hosts, so sat Clooney, front and center -- but not exactly in Jack's seat, mind you -- a younger lady on his arm, playing along as Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin roasted him all night.

We have to say we missed Jack, with his glasses and devilish grin. Clooney is great and all, but can he ever really fill Jack's seat?

"Clooney's MO is different from Jack's. I think Jack is definitely on a higher level," says HollywoodLife.com Editor-in-Chief Bonnie Fuller. "Jack is very much the king of Hollywood who thinks that everyone else in beneath him. That's why he wears the sunglasses. George is everybody in Hollywood's best buddy. Everybody likes him and everybody wants to be a part of his inner circle. Hollywood is like high school and he is the most popular guy right now."

All those cutaways in years past, where the cameraman would try to catch Jack sipping from a flask, flirting with a woman who wasn't his date or maybe even falling asleep behind those dark shades, went directly to Clooney last night, and he yucked it up by making stern faces at Martin and Baldwin's jokes. While some headlines today have claimed George was grumpy or mad while the hosts dissed him, he was actually just playing the role that Jack perfected years ago when Billy Crystal would write jokes specifically at Jack's expense.

"George and Jack are both the perfect Oscar targets for the hosts to play around with. They know their role and they relish being the foil," says Fox News' Oscar Expert, Tariq Khan. And according to Khan, who is a wealth of Oscar knowledge, Clooney is well on his way to the kind of Oscar superstardom that Nicholson has achieved over the course of his long and storied career. While Nicholson still holds the title for the male actor with the most nominations (12 nominations and three wins), Clooney has been nominated three times in the past five years alone. If George, 48, can keep this pace up, by the time he reaches Jack's age (72), he could even surpass him in total nominations.

"I think that Clooney is taking over. Period. The fact that he is being called our new Jack Nicholson is just a bonus. His faces in the audience during the hosts' monologue were basically the lesson plans from an 'Acting With the Face Muscles 101' class. He was also seen running around, high-fiving fans in the stands. If you replace the word high-fiving with drinking and fans with Scotch then him and Jack Nicholson are exactly the same," says NY Post PopWrap's Ryan Brockington.

Watch the Girls on Pop Take on George and Jack

It makes sense that Nicholson didn't come to Sunday night's awards. He wasn't nominated this year, and perhaps the Academy simply didn't ask him to present. Or maybe he wanted to get out while the getting was good and just bequeath his seat to someone new. For our sake, we're hoping he makes it back for a few more shows. There is something comforting about seeing Jack in the front row, almost like when your drunk uncle Albert slurs his way through grace at Thanksgiving. It just feels like home. And we can't imagine that Jack would cede the throne so easily. We're looking forward to 2011, where we fully expect George to try to settle into Jack's seat as Jack removes his sunglasses and smirks, "Who the %$&# are you?"

Tags: Academy Awards, george clooney, jack nicholson, oscars

Comments

(79)

Tuesday 09 March

By Rick

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Well simply put one is a character acter and one is a leading man. Nicholson when not loaning his house out to child molestor (Roman Polanski)or talking about politics is a brilliant actor and possibly a nice guy but he's not a particularlly handsome devil like Clooney...but ole Clooney can't keep his politics to a minimum he insists on Jane Fondizing himself....too bad

By rob

Jack is the better actor. George is the better Director.

By RUE

NO ONE CAN EVER REPLACE JACK NICKOLSON !! I DON'T KNOW WHY HE DOESN'T ATTEND HE ISN'T TOO OLD. EVEN IF HE ISN'T MAKING MANY MOVIES HE SHOULD BE THERE. HIS FAN BASE MUST BE BIGGER THEN ANY OTHER ACTORS THERE. BRING HIM BACK. WE ALL LIKE TO SEE HIM !!!!!!!!!!!!!

By elnquin

Never ever be like jack

By liss

There's a dearth of handsome men in Hollywood now, so Clooney is getting hyped well beyond his abilities so that we will THINK he is great and will pay to see him. Face it. If Hollywood can make a President out of Obama, they think they can do anything, including convince us that George can act.

Wednesday 10 March

By Annie Oakley

Liss: Remember Hollywood made a president out of actor Ronald Reagan :)

Don't know why you right wingers have to bring your brand of politics to every blog and bash our president. Do you all get paid for your brand of posting and bashing?

By Anna

Clooney amy not be the actor that Jack is, but he is much better to look at and think about all the possibilities!! YUM.

By caramelosdos

Hey, did I miss something here? Everyone is writing about Jack
as though he were dead! Really, now, Clooney, the only thing about
him that is interesting is that he was the nephew of the fabulous
Rosemary. Nothing else. As an actor, he stinks.

By Dottie

Jack Nicholson is Jack Nicholson nobody is trying to replace him thats silly .. no one is taking his place thats silly too... he will be back next year .. he was missed big time something special did not happen and that was Jack ...George Clooney seems like a nice fellow his date seems like a huge snob .. she should have stayed home she didn't look happy at all... I think he better go back and do some more picking .. not the right one ...
The entire awards show was poor this year .. loved looking at Alec but it was a dull show ... fell asleep thats so unusual for me waiting all year and nothing there to hold my interest thats my opinion don't know what others thought.... sorry

By tench

Clooney is a good looking guy, a fair actor but has far left political views. If I had his money, I might have those views as well (keeping others who want to succeed under a rock). He is on my list of actors who will not receive one dime from me in the form of movie ticket revenues. The Oscars turned into a sham years ago. Those who really care about "the stars" are those that cannot survive without make believe heroes; prefering to live the life of others rather than their own.

By Marshall

So, who is the bald fellow with the sun glasses on ,who is to
the right of George Clooney??

By Ginny

There is only ONE Jack! And, I love him!!!!

By Cory

Clooney couldn't carry Nicholson's jock strap, never could, never will.

By David Childs

George! "You can't handle the truth!"

By Gus

Give me a break - Clooney being Jack Nicholson - NO WAY!!! Jack is too cool and the females that are discussing this simply like to hear themselves talk!
There is one and only one Jack Nicholson!!!!! He is one cool cat and anyone trying to copying him is WASTING THEIR TIME!
Clooney - give it up!!!

By Jules

I like George Clooney a lot, but please, get real - he's nowhere near the actor that Jack Nicholson is.

Jack Nicholson is a fantastic character actor...George is lucky he's handsome and a semi-good actor.

By Joanna

George....
Like all the others today, male and female...
you looked like an unmade bed. Get a hair cut.

By Ronnie

G.Clooney? He appeared BORED with the whole thing. No, humble man like,the great J.N. would appear in front of the camera like that.

Now, Warren Beatty, what a friggin hottie and the D**K of death.
Only the A list of women/men would know that. (grin)

Clooney, is nice. But B O R I N G. He can only act. NO versatility!

Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp, NOW, THEY CAN ACT, with class and dignaty.

By lisa

Clooney is too full of himself and he is not all that. and he always chooses boring rather unattractive women for some reason.. he has no acting range

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