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nickpick Noun, e.g., Mary Astor is a nickpick playing the femme fatale in “The Maltese Falcon” (1940). Definition: A character horribly miscast.
Other examples of nickpicks: Jack Nicholson portraying a soldier in Napoleon’s army (“The Terror” 1963); Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder trying to be English in “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992); Vince Vaughn playing an FBI agent in “The Cell” (2000). Related Terms: aces caliphony spats at an Iowa picnic richardloo
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History: Named for Nick Adams, an actor popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Off-screen, Adams was known for wearing T-shirts with a pack of cigarettes rolled in the sleeve. Onscreen, he played roles such as a Harvard valedictorian (“Pillow Talk” 1959), a medical doctor (“The Interns” 1962), a Ph.D. in radiology (“Frankenstein Conquers the World” 1965), and a nuclear scientist (“Die Monster, Die!” 1965). In “Die Monster, Die!”, an English lord played by Boris Karloff discovers Nick in his living room. “Who are you?” his lordship demands. Karloff’s daughter rushes in and introduces Nick to her father. “We studied together at the University,” she says. Karloff’s pained look of disbelief is the movie’s most realistic moment.