In 2003, the film ‘Something’s Gotta Give’ offered viewers a touching romance about later life. The love story of two opposites in their 60s gave a new face to dating—and it was fueled by real emotions that had lasted for decades.
Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson deny ever dating, but Keaton drew on her long-standing affection for Nicholson to create such a convincing performance that Nicholson himself struggled to tell what was real and what was acting.
Born on January 5, 1946, in Los Angeles, Keaton became famous thanks to early roles in The Godfather, Sleeper, and Annie Hall, for which she won an Academy Award.
By the late 1970s, Keaton was dating actor, director, and notorious womanizer Warren Beatty, who soon cast her in his 1981 film Reds. Their relationship began to fall apart during filming, where Beatty also played her on-screen lover. He was an especially demanding director, and one producer suggested that tension in their personal relationship contributed to his obsessive and relentless behavior. The strain was so intense that the couple broke up soon after the film’s release. However, Keaton found a more pleasant partner on the set of Reds in Jack Nicholson.
“I wanted him to kiss me”
Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson in the film ‘Reds’
Nicholson, nearly ten years older than Keaton and a close friend of Beatty, was already a celebrated star thanks to films such as Easy Rider (1969) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). Keaton was completely captivated by him and later wrote in her autobiography that when she first met him in her thirties, friendship felt impossible because she did not want to be just his friend—she wanted romance, although nothing happened.
In a later interview, when asked if she liked Nicholson, Keaton admitted that she had been more in love with him than with anyone else over the span of twenty years, and that he was irresistible and fully aware of her feelings, as she told him openly.
After a career slowdown between 1996 and 2002, Keaton was cast in Something’s Gotta Give, the story of a charming record company owner who falls in love with a writer named Erica. She was thrilled to perform alongside the man she had loved for years and decided to channel her passion into the film, pushing the boundaries of her acting.
“Diane just told me she loves me”
Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson in ‘Something’s Gotta Give’
Nicholson recalled how Keaton used her emotions behind the scenes of their on-screen romance. He noted that she could stare into his eyes before filming and express harsh criticism, and then immediately step into a love scene. He also remembered her playful behavior and how she occasionally expressed affection with such conviction that he believed it and wondered whether she expected a real romantic commitment. Keaton was no stranger to blurring fiction and reality—her breakout role in Annie Hall was semi-autobiographical. During the filming of Something’s Gotta Give, she confessed her love to Nicholson with such sincerity that he fully believed her.
Director Nancy Meyers once described a rehearsal of an outdoor scene in which Nicholson, looking flustered, told her that Keaton had just said she loved him. Meyers explained that she had added the line to the script, and he relaxed, realizing Keaton was acting. Nicholson was not the only one convinced — critics praised the film enthusiastically.
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Keaton and Nicholson were seen kissing on the red carpet before the film’s release. Nevertheless, Keaton firmly denied ever being in a relationship with her co-star, dismissing rumors spread by Nicholson as part of his showmanship and flair for publicity.
The following year, Nicholson was rumored to be dating supermodel Kate Moss, while Keaton, who has never married, raised two adopted children on her own. Although her relationship with Nicholson remained platonic, she was surprised by one generous gesture from him: his Something’s Gotta Give contract included a share of the film’s profits, and when he discovered that Keaton did not have the same arrangement, he gave her more than half of his earnings. She only learned about it two years after the film’s release upon receiving a large check and assuming it was a mistake.
“I haven’t been on a date in 35 years”
Keaton’s dating history might have remained largely private if not for a candid 2012 interview in which she discussed her past relationships with Warren Beatty, Woody Allen, and Al Pacino. She did not claim to have had a romance with Nicholson but openly admitted that nothing could have worked between them. She said that such men needed a strong, managing partner and that she was not the type to take on that role.
Regarding Nicholson, Keaton said that he was someone one constantly wanted to watch, which she found exhausting. While he had many high-profile relationships and fathered five children, Keaton did not regret her quieter romantic life in later years. By 2019, she stated that she had not been on a date in about 35 years and that although she had many friends, she did not go on romantic outings.
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