See Rare Photos of Jack Nicholson on Set for ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (Exclusive)

Jack Nicholson on His Celebrity Status

Nicholson met the PEOPLE reporter at a diner in New York City, and was joined by Anjelica Huston — whom he dated on-and-off until 1990 — Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and David Geffen. The actor observed, “A star on a movie set is like a bomb.”

He continued, “That bomb has got to be defused so people can approach it without fear. Because if a living reality doesn’t exist between the players in a scene, the scene won’t play.”

While shooting a scene, Nicholson said he thinks of his costars as “the people they’re pretending to be.”

“That way, if an actor makes a mistake, I don’t feel it as a mistake,” he explained. “I see it as a quirk in that person’s behavior, and I react to that quirk.”

What Jack Nicholson Doesn’t Like About His Acting

Nicholson said that he didn’t like his smile onscreen, and that he felt he was “into too much physical business.” However, his greatest challenge at the time was overexposure.

“I’m in too many pictures. People complain that they see too much Nicholson,” he said. “So in Cuckoo’s Nest I’ve developed a new technique. I pull my hat over my eyes, turn my back to the camera — and disappear within the very movie I am making!”

Jack Nicholson on His Recreational Drug Use

He also felt that his reputation as a heavy drug user was “overblown,” as he only smoked cannabis, occasionally snorted cocaine and dropped “a good deal” of acid.

“Drugs are a social thing with me, a pleasant evening now and then,” he told PEOPLE. “Nobody’s ever seen me slack-mouthed. I’m not an advocate of decadence.”

Jack Nicholson on LSD Therapy

He credited LSD therapy with giving him an understanding of how he related to women in his life — all the way back to his parents’ separation right after his birth.

“I got back to a terrible realization I had as an infant that my mother didn’t want me … and a long with that came desperate feelings of need,” he recalled of his early experiences with the drug therapy. “Basically, I still relate to women by trying to please them as if my survival depends on them.”

Nicholson added, “In my long-term relationships, I’m always the one that gets left.”

Jack Nicholson Dispels NSFW Rumors

In the interview, he also addressed rumors of his sexual promiscuity and experience in the orgy circuit, calling the rumors totally unfounded.

“I know where that button is, but I don’t press it,” Nicholson said. “Too wasteful. I’m actually a fairly conservative guy.”

Jack Nicholson Looks Toward the Future

After Cuckoo’s Nest, his sixth film in two years (across three different countries), Nicholson needed a break.

“No time to lay back and let the juices flow. So I’m goin’ to Aspen for the winter, ski a lot and work on a script I’m going to direct,” he told PEOPLE, referring to his Western that never materialized, Moontrap. “After that, who knows? If you have a sense of direction you don’t always have to be pointing.”

If his success didn’t last forever, Nicholson said he’d “be ready.”

“In California you can sleep on the ground, I may be doin’ that yet,” he quipped. “Of course, there’s the mosquitoes. But I really like mosquitoes. I live a tense life, and there aren’t too many things I can just reach out and kill without getting in trouble.”