“The one thing I can say is, it’s obvious one person is more experienced.”

Jack Nicholson, in a phone interview with MTV, talks about why he supports Hillary Clinton.

Here it is:

Jack Nicholson: What put it in your head to give me a call today, Josh?

MTV: A lot of people here at MTV News were talking today about this video endorsement of yours that’s suddenly all over the Web.

Nicholson: Yeah, I’m hot in the theaters. [He laughs.]

MTV: So the question is, why now? Why support Hillary in this public way now?

Nicholson: Well, I’m a longtime Clintonite. I guess that’s no secret. I’m not a talking-points guy, Josh. I’m a rolling cannonball. I basically do it on my own.

MTV: The talking heads and pundits would have us believe that the next 24 hours are do or die for Hillary.

Nicholson: The talking heads will have had us believe it’s been important for eight years now. No offense to good old MTV, but my concern is, it all becomes a TV show. It’s only now that people are seeing that [the media has] been harsh to her. It’s disturbing to me how gleeful they are at her imagined demise or any setbacks she has. They’re citizens too. They’re entitled to their opinions. Do you have a horse in this race, Josh?

MTV: I have to admit that, like many Democrats, I’m still going back and forth between Clinton and Obama.

Nicholson: I think this is one of the peculiarities of the election. I think everyone likes both. I’m a person who understands what experience, which is often a euphemism for connections, can mean in the big old world. She’s been there. I was raised by women. I know how tough they are when the tough gets going.

MTV: Policy-wise, what appeals to you about her candidacy?

Nicholson: I’ve just been re-reading Jann Wenner’s fantastic interview with [Daniel] Ellsberg [who in 1971 leaked documents that helped to end the Vietnam War]. One of the things I heard in Hillary’s campaign is she intends to put it all on the Internet and make it a completely transparent government. I think that’s a sign of the times and something that’s very good.

MTV: You mentioned before that you believe Clinton’s been treated harshly by the press?

Nicholson: I think they ask her too many times to explain the same thing. I’m very familiar with film editing, if you know what I mean. That’s why I don’t do television interviews. I don’t want to see something I said 30 years ago come back in a documentary — plus, I’ll feel like I looked so good 30 years ago. The television sets have to have a drama.

MTV: Some have posited that misogyny may be a greater force than racism.

Nicholson: I’ve posited it myself. I don’t want to come to the conclusion that it’s gender bias. My grandmother kind of ran the neighborhood. She’d look at me after one of these bozos left her and she’d say, “Do you think this prick would treat a man this way, Jackie?” I learned all those lessons early on. They were the right lessons. I’m proud of them. And I think if she were alive she’d be proud of me too. (more…)