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Jack Nicholson had plans to boycott the 2003 Oscars, as it was revealed by ‘The Pianist’ star Adrien Brody. That year, the ceremony was scheduled March 23, four days after the United States started their invasion of Iraq.
The Hollywood legend, who was nominated for Best Actor, invited his fellow nominees over to his house and said he wanted to organize a protest, showing solidarity with people in Iraq and telling the actors to skip the ceremony.
Brody detailed how it all went down during a recent interview, as he was the only one among the rest of the nominees who didn’t have an Oscar, including Nicholas Cage for ‘Adaptation,’ Daniel Day-Lewis for ‘Gangs of New York,’ and Michael Caine for ‘The Quiet American.’
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going,” he said to the nominees,” adding “I kind of have to show up. My parents are coming. This doesn’t come around too often. I know you guys are all winners. You can sit it out. But I can’t.”
The rest of the nominees attended the ceremony, and Brody, who was 29 at the time won the Oscar, making history as the youngest Best Actor winner.
And while he decided not to boycott the awards, he gave an emotional acceptance speech: “I’m filled with a lot of sadness tonight because I’m accepting an award at such a strange time. My experience of making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanization of people at the times of war, and the repercussions of war.”
The actor also talked about the acclaimed film and his role in ‘The Pianist’ confessing that he “can’t even watch the film. I can’t. I kind of cry when I talk about it.”