When Tom Sizemore Asked Jack Nicholson for $10mn
A Hollywood star's addiction spiraled so far that he approached Jack Nicholson with an outrageous financial request. The legendary actor's response was swift and brutal.
The entertainment industry has always danced with danger. Drugs seduce with promises of creativity, then destroy everything in their path. Jack Nicholson lived through this cycle, participating in it, witnessing its carnage firsthand.
Nicholson owned the 1960s counterculture scene. Easy Rider made him a star while he was deep in the turn on, tune in, drop out movement. Dating members of The Mamas and the Papas meant staying high constantly. His friendship with Hunter S Thompson required matching the writer's legendary drug consumption line for line.
The Party Scene's Dark Side
The party continued through the '70s, '80s, '90s, and into the 2000s. Nicholson dated younger party girls like Kate Moss. But anyone in that world watched friends die. Talented people burned out. The destruction became impossible to ignore.
Heath Ledger's death hit Nicholson hard. He claimed he had "warned him" after noticing Ledger's downward spiral. The pattern repeated endlessly. Young talent, drugs, destruction.
Sizemore's Downward Spiral
Tom Sizemore was born in 1961, already an addict by 15. Somehow he built a career despite his addiction. Saving Private Ryan, Natural Born Killers, True Romance, Heat. He worked with Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino. The whole time, he was falling apart.
Rock bottom came in 2009. Despite his film credits, Sizemore was broke and desperate.
"I wasn't homeless, but I had to fast sell my $7mn house. This is how fucked up I was," he told the Daily Mail. He lived in a squat, sometimes slept in his car. Then he hatched an insane plan.
The Desperate Ask
"I was thinking I'm gonna get the money to buy a $5mn home, and I'm asking certain people for money," Sizemore recalled. He started approaching famous friends for loans.
Then came the big ask. "I asked Jack Nicholson, 'Can you loan me $10mn'," Sizemore said.
Nicholson's response was immediate: "In a word, no."
Nobody gives an active addict $10mn. Nobody believes that money would come back. For Nicholson, who had recently quit drugs himself after watching so many friends die, refusing Sizemore was actually trying to help him. Sometimes saying no is the only way to save someone from themselves.