One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

           First of all, the filmmakers were making a movie, not a play or a book. So, in order to make the film they needed not only to take information from the book and play, but research outside those sources so they could turn the project into their own. From the “Real Reels” article you can see that the old nurse was impressed with the way the film portrayed old state hospitals. This was probably done by going through all the trouble to research old state hospitals.

I do think the same commitment to the material is expected of all the actors. It provides authenticity to their performances, especially if all the actors have their own unique experiences with psychiatric wards. But, I can also understand the opposing argument because the actors could just get a feel for their character form the book or play. I thought Jack Nicholson was great as McMurphy, but he could have played that character without researching into psychiatric wards or patients. I am not saying he didn’t research outside sources, but the way he played the character it seems like he just made it up on his own. On the other hand Louise Fletcher’s character, Nurse Ratched, seems to have needed some research out of the book or play. To play her character it looked as though you would need to research the way psychiatric wards work and how the nurses play into the system.