James L. Brooks teases long-time collaborator and friend Jack Nicholson’s return to acting. The Academy Award-winning director was asked by People if Nicholson had stopped acting for good, his last credit was back in 2010’s romantic comedy How Do You Know, to which he responded, 

I don’t think he’s stopped. I mean, he’s gotten scripts, he’s reading them, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing them.

Brooks previously had mentioned in a People interview back in 2023 that he believes the Academy Award-winning star would “get itchy and scratch his interest in acting once more.” The duo first collaborated in 1983’s Terms of Endearment, which earned Brooks three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, while Nicholson received one for Best Supporting Actor. In his recent interview, Brooks also spoke to how he came to cast Nicholson in the tragicomedy all those years ago, saying, 

I didn’t have a second choice. I didn’t because the guy has to have license from an audience when he walks on, and he was the only [one]. I was a fledgling [director], and I had to get the greatest guy going or not make the movie. He’s great to work with. I once asked him — I just think it was one of the best things to say to other actors. I asked him, ‘What do you do if you’re in a scene and the other actor isn’t particularly talented?’ And he said, ‘No, no. Whatever the other actor does is perfect.’ And that is not only a gorgeous answer, it’s severely true.

The pair went on to work on two more films together: 1987’s romantic comedy-drama Broadcast News and 1997’s As Good As It Gets, which earned Nicholson an Academy Award for Best Actor. 

Brooks didn’t say when Nicholson will appear back on the big screen, but his comments should leave fans hopeful that it could be sometime soon. As for Brooks, his latest film, Ella McCay, starring Emma Mackey and Jamie Lee Curtis, was released in theaters on December 12th.