Jack Black names his favourite movie of all time

An infectiously charismatic force in entertainment, Jack Black has carved out a distinct space for himself in the realms of both acting and music over the past three decades. From his breakout role in the classic children's comedy School of Rock to his incendiary performances as one-half of the rock duo Tenacious D, Black's talents have garnered widespread adoration.

While Black's bread and butter is comedy acting, especially with a guitar in hand, he has taken on several more serious acting roles over the years, including those in The Jackal, King Kong and Bernie. Black's natural ability to incite giggles has helped pave his way and line his pockets, but his passion for cinema is notably refined.

When describing his favourite movie of all time in Cindy Pearlman's 2007 book You Gotta See This, Black revealed that his favourite movies are psychological dramas, not comedies or movies with car chases.

"I always really loved One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," Black said, picking his movie recommendation for the book. "Jack was just so darn good, plus the movie is moving. I guess I love this one so much because I’ve always had an obsession with people who are psychologically challenged. Wait… that doesn't sound good the way it just came out. But I do love people who don't think in the so-called normal way".

He added: "I’ll take psychological problems any day in a movie over a car chase or a love story. I love to watch people who think way outside the box, and in Cuckoo's Nest, it's almost like they’re in a zoo."

Arriving in 1975, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was directed by Miloš Forman using a screenplay written by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman, based on the 1962 novel by the post-Beat writer Ken Kesey. Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson steals the show as a convicted criminal who feigns insanity to serve a softer sentence at a mental institution. However, he wasn't forewarned about the evil Nurse Ratched.

During a 1986 interview with The New York Times, Nicholson the secret to the movie. "All right. The secret to Cuckoo's Nest — and it's not in the book — my secret design for it was that this guy's a scamp who knows he's irresistible to women, and in reality, he expects Nurse Ratched to be seduced by him," he explained. "This is his tragic flaw."

The movie is a bona fide classic and became the second movie to win the big five (‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Actor in Lead Role’, ‘Best Actress in Lead Role’, ‘Best Director’, and ‘Best Screenplay’) at the 48th Academy Awards. The feat had previously been achieved in 1934 by Frank Capra's It Happened One Night and has only occurred once since, for Jonathan Demme's 1991 movie Silence of the Lambs.