The Movie Scene Jack Nicholson Got Completely Stoned for and Why It Became Iconic

The 1969 classic Easy Rider tells the story of two bikers, Wyatt and Billy, who ride through the American Southwest after a successful d**g deal in Mexico. The movie captures the wild culture of the late sixties.

Following the duo as they interact with hippie communes and eventually end up at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Throughout the trip, the main characters are frequently under the influence of various d***s, which was actually more realistic than some might realize.

László Kovács, the film’s cinematographer, later admitted that there were quite a lot of d***s present on the set and that it was essentially common knowledge among the crew. Peter Fonda, who produced and starred in the film, confirmed this by saying that just about everyone working on the project had a specific substance they preferred. For Fonda and director Dennis Hopper, that usually meant alcohol, though Fonda mentioned he occasionally smoked as well.

However, Fonda found that smoking m*******a made him a bit too paranoid to focus on his performance. The same was not true for Jack Nicholson, who played the alcoholic lawyer George Hanson. Nicholson was a big believer in the “Method” style of acting and wanted to truly understand his character’s headspace. During the famous campfire scene where his character tries m*******a for the first time, Nicholson decided to smoke the real thing.

The actor later told Time magazine that he ended up smoking around 155 j****s throughout the shooting of that specific scene. He found it to be a fantastic challenge to keep track of the acting while being high, specifically trying to play the scene as if he were sober before slowly acting more and more stoned. Kovács was incredibly impressed by the performance, noting that Jack stayed in total control of his lines even though he was clearly very high at the time.

As of this year, Jack Nicholson remains one of the most respected figures in Hollywood history, though he has largely stepped away from the spotlight in recent years. Now 88 years old, the three-time Oscar winner is rarely seen in public, though he delighted fans with a surprise appearance at the Saturday Night Live 50th-anniversary special in February 2025.

While he hasn’t taken a major acting role since 2010, his close friend James L. Brooks recently hinted that Nicholson still reads scripts quite often and might have one more great performance left in him if the right project comes along.

Do you think Jack Nicholson’s “method” approach to the campfire scene in Easy Rider is what made his performance so iconic, or would it have been just as good if he had stayed sober? Share your thoughts in the comments!