Nick Nolte made his first red carpet appearance in four years at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday.
The 85-year-old actor appeared at the festival for the premiere of “Company,” directed by Casey Affleck, marking his second movie role of the year after “Crime 101,” which was released in February.
The “48 Hrs.” star last walked a red carpet at the world premiere of “The Golden Voice,” previously titled “Rittenhouse Square,” at the 31st Philadelphia Film Festival in October 2022.
He was joined at the Venice Film Festival by Affleck and his “Company” co-stars Emily Alyn Lind, Scoot McNairy, Adelaide Clemens and Caylee Cowan, Affleck’s girlfriend, as well as his son, Indiana, whom he shares with his ex-wife, Summer Phoenix.
Affleck’s other son with Phoenix, Atticus, also appears in the film, along with Ben Mendelsohn. Neither Atticus nor Mendelsohn attended the festival.
Speaking at a press conference for the film, Nolte detailed how he prepared for his role in the anthology mystery.
“It’s preparation, it’s the amount of time. You get the story, and then I started to prepare for it,” Nolte said, according to People. “And if you’re lucky, the timing of your preparation matches the shooting schedule, and you hit moments that you didn’t know if you could conjure them up if they are not.”
Nolte described Affleck, 51, as a “good director” who understood the process and didn’t try to “push” a performance.
Instead, he said, Affleck “coaxes it along” and works with the actor to “figure out a way to play.”
Affleck, for his part, said there was “no coaxing necessary” when he was working with Nolte.
He praised the “Prince of Tides” actor for his ability to reach “vulnerable and emotional places very, very quickly,” calling it a skill that from “a lifetime of doing it — and doing it well.”
“When [Nolte] came on set, everyone was excited and eager to see what was going to happen, to be able to watch him work,” Affleck said.
“And nobody was disappointed because every take … there was not a wasted take, and trying to pick which one to use was really the only difficulty.”
Nolte, who was named People’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1992, has long stayed out of the spotlight and rarely appears in public.
In 2025, the actor was seen out in Malibu with Josh Brolin, and a year earlier, he was seen buying groceries.
His recent acting credits include “Die My Love,” released in 2025, and an episode of “Poker Face” in 2023.
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