Always At The Carlyle director regrets not getting Jack Nicholson on camera

Filmmaker Matthew Miele spent years trying to persuade Jack Nicholson to come out of retirement and appear in his new documentary about New York’s The Carlyle Hotel.
Jack is such a big part of anecdotal movie Always at The Carlyle, because he remains one of the staff’s favourite guests – but Miele couldn’t get him on camera.
“I believe it was his assistant who said he was honoured to be asked but it’s just not something that he does,” the director explains to WENN. “I really felt like I wanted to pursue him because he is such a part of the place and I know he loves staying there.
“I’ve seen him there. He would come in and every time he would visit he would give an orchid to the operators who would take the reservation. There was another story from a maid who was cleaning his room and he had his hair all messed up. I think he was taking a nap when he answered the door and was a little bit off, but then when she smiled everything was better. It was enough to calm down Jack.
“He’s very difficult to get on camera when it comes to these things but the stories about him really came through. He’s an interesting guy as far as being a Hollywood legend but the fact that he does that little thing when he stays there I thought was really special and I wanted to have it in there even though we didn’t get a chance to talk to him. He’s in it just by spirit and the staff loves him.”
But Miele did get The Carlyle regulars Tommy Lee Jones, George Clooney, Naomi Campbell, Jon Hamm, Wes Anderson, and the late Elaine Stritch to appear on camera, as well as actress Anjelica Huston, who talks candidly about staying there with her ex-boyfriend Nicholson in the 1970s.