Jack Nicholson really just wants to sit under a tree and read a book, not act

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Jack Nicholson hasn't officially retired, but it sounds like he won't be making more movies anytime soon – and it's for possibly the best reason ever.

Nicholson hasn't appeared in a film for 13 years (his most recent role was in 2010 rom-com How Do You Know) but he has a pretty good reason for turning down offers. According to the WTF With Marc Maron podcast, Nicholson just wants to relax.

"A friend of mine wanted to put him in a movie," Maron said, in conversation with Lou Adler, who is a friend of Nicholson's (H/T TheWrap). "And he had a conversation with him. But Jack says, 'I don't want to do it.' He goes, 'You know what I did today? I sat under a tree and I read a book.'"

"Jack's doing whatever he really wants to do. He wants to be quiet," Adler explained. "He wants to eat what he wants, he wants to live the life he wants."

Who can blame Nicholson? That pretty much sounds like paradise to us. And with a ride-ranging career that includes the likes of The Shining, Batman, and One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and many more under his belt, no one can begrudge Nicholson the quiet life now.

Plus, his performances are the gifts that keep on giving even years later. Take his work as Jack Torrance in The Shining as an example: one eagle-eyed Stanley Kubrick scholar spotted that Nicholson's Jack breaks the fourth wall over and over in extremely creepy fashion in the movie. Just try sleeping peacefully again now that you've noticed that.

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I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.