Duke Nicholson on Carving His Own Path and Lessons From Grandpa Jack

For nearly 10 years, Duke Nicholson — the 26-year-old grandson of Hollywood icon Jack Nicholson — has hovered at the edges of the movie business, quietly shaping his own path as both an actor and aspiring director while nurturing a hardcore obsession with classic film. He’s occasionally popped up in unexpected places — such as the cover model of Lana Del Rey’s 2019 hit album Norman Fucking Rockwell! , on the Venice Film Festival red carpet alongside Oscar Isaac and Jason Momoa in support of his role in Julian Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante , or as a memorably creepy carny in Jordan Peele’s Us — but with The Deputy , a gritty, darkly comic crime thriller directed by longtime friend and collaborator Matt Sukkar, Nicholson takes center stage for the first time.

For nearly 10 years,