Lakeland senior Jess Nickel watched “Inception” twice on Saturday and wondered how the people who vote for the Oscars can sleep at night after not awarding it “Best Picture” a year ago.
Garrett Morris, one of Nickel’s roommates, said Nickel has spent many days like this since “The King’s Speech” beat out “Inception” for “Picture of the Year” last February.
Morris said he watched that awards show on TV with Nickel. He said despite the fact that most experts were predicting “The King’s Speech” would win “Best Picture,” Nickel kept insisting “Inception” “had it in the bag.” Then came the announcement: the Oscar went to “The King’s Speech.”
“He just sat there, staring at the screen,” Morris said. “I didn’t care either way, and I hadn’t eaten that night so I went to the Muskie Mart and got a flex-meal.”
Morris said when he got back to his apartment door, he was surprised to hear screaming inside. He opened the door and walked into the living room. He found his couch flipped, papers strewn across the floor, and Nickel walking around the room in circles screaming.
“He wasn’t screaming actual words, he was just screaming,” Morris said. “It was kind of like that scene in ‘40-Year-Old-Virgin’ where Steve Carell walks around his house screaming after everyone he works with finds out he’s a virgin.”
Nickel would not say whether he walked around the living room in circles screaming a year ago, but he did confirm he sent an email to the Academy’s business office demanding an explanation of why they thought “The King’s Speech” was better than “Inception.” He said their choice was “all politics” and said it still “bewilders the hell out of him,” even though he said he has now seen “The King’s Speech” and thinks it is a “fairly good film.”
“Well, I guess Colin Firth gave one of the great performances of all time as King George IV, and Geoffrey Rush probably deserved to win ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his portrayal of Firth’s eccentric but kind speech therapist, and, OK, the plot wasn’t not excellent, if you like historical dramas that make you laugh and cry and want be a better person when you walk back into your life,” Nickel said.
Morris said Nickel’s obsession with the movie began after he saw it in theaters.
“I’ve gone to a lot of movies with Jess, but he was unusually engaged in this one,” Morris said. “When Leonardo DiCaprio tells everyone if they die in the dream they won’t wake up this time, Jess gasped – loud. He gasped loud again when DiCaprio’s dead wife showed up in the dream and shot one of his friends. The people behind us shushed him, and Jess turned around and said, ‘You shhhh.’
Morris said sitting next to Nickel was “really embarrassing,” especially when the movie ended and Nickel stood up and shouted, “Oh my word, Leonardo DiCaprio has wanted all movie to get home to his kids and leave this world of dream-stealing and international intrigue behind, and now he finally has, but he’s been in the dream world so long that he’s not sure what’s a dream and what’s real anymore, so he just spun a top and if it had fallen that would mean he is in the real world, but the movie ended before we saw if it fell or not so we’re left wondering, it’s open-ended, my word, that was the best movie ever.”
At press time, Morris and other sources close to Nickel said he had purchased “The King’s Speech.” They said when they asked him why he bought it, Nickel told them, “It’s for a friend.”
Editor’s Note: This story is not true. The real Jess Nickel said he hasn’t seen Inception, and his girlfriend says he is an excellent movie-watching companion.