Following the devastating news about Heath Ledger’s passing, the European premiere of a film dealing with the subject of death was an understandably sombre affair.
“It’s unbelievably sad,” said director Rob Reiner. “I’m reminded when I directed Stand By Me with River Phoenix, he also died at a very young age. I remember the feeling I had then that it’s so tragic and sad that somebody that age with that kind of talent should be cut short. It brought those feelings back up for me.”
Freeman, Ledger’s co-star in The Dark Knight, was still visibly upset by the news and could only say: “It’s a tragic accident, he was really talented.”
As for the actor’s long-awaited performance as the Clown Prince Of Crime? “I haven’t seen any clips of the film but I’m dying, dying to see what he did.”
Reiner, Freeman and an animated but tight-lipped Jack Nicholson were in town to plug their latest flick The Bucket List, a comedy/drama about two men who discover they have cancer and decide to see out their final days living life to the fullest – skydiving, driving race cars, seeing the wonders of the world, that sort of thing. It’s a film that sees two titans of the screen finally sharing a close-up together.
“It was wonderful working with Jack,” said Freeman. “Ever since I saw him in Five Easy Pieces, he was jaw-droppingly good in that and I always thought I would love working with him. Subsequently we met on several occasions and we agreed that we’d like to work together. Once that’s agreed, the universe changes gears and makes it happen.”
For Reiner, The Bucket List gave him the chance to wield the megaphone in front of two of his favourite actors, what’s more it turns out they were a joy to work with.
“As a director you’re very lucky to have two guys of this calibre, in my opinion two of the best actors in the world, it makes your life pretty easy,” he said. “These guys have been doing this for so long, they’re such professionals and I like to work quickly. I like to be prepared and when they come to the set I know they’re going to be prepared – we don’t like to muck about too much and get on with the job. We did maybe one, two, three takes at the most on all the shots.”
Nicholson, not one to subscribe to the Method school, inadvertently found himself living the movie when he needed emergency surgery prior to shooting.
“It was just one of those weird things,” said Reiner. “We had to actually postpone the shooting for five or six months because he had to go into surgery. But all the experiences that he had in hospital he brought into the film.”
A hit at the box office, The Bucket List unfortunately failed to garner any Oscar nominations, but Reiner is still holding out hope for another of his projects.
“I’m one of the principal founders of Castle Rock and we’ve got Michael Clayton out this year. That film got nominated for seven Oscars so I’m partial to Michael Clayton.”
The Bucket List is released nationwide on February 15.