Facebook: Sinister storytelling advice from Jack Nicholson — via Matt Damon

“But if you leave the camera rolling.”

I find myself re-listening over and over again to this story about Jack Nicholson and Martin Scorsese told by Matt Damon.

For one thing, Damon’s story from the movie shoot of The Departed is perfectly told; there’s an economy of words, there’s the anticipatory effect of repetition, and there’s the profound nugget of storytelling wisdom at the end.

ut it’s also a sneak peek into the mind of Jack Nicholson, one of our greatest actors of all time, who demonstrates that he understands how to tell a story.

It’s not easy to improve upon writing that’s already solid, but he can.

And he does it within the restraints of time and budget, which to me is equally impressive.

I hope you will enjoy listening to this as much as I have.

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