Las Vegas Weekly

June 12, 2009 · 2:21 PM

I don’t know Jack (Nicholson)

By Jennifer Grafiada

Photo: Allison Duck

“There’s Jack Nicholson!” noted my sidekick photographer, Allison Duck, as CineVegas’ Jackpot Premieres party was in full swing at Lavo Nightclub last night.

With his trademark shades and mischievous grin, a blonde by his side, he still resembled psychopathic killer Jack Torrance, although his hair was concrete gray and a Santa Claus stomach pushed against his shirt.

“We just arrived,” he told me as I imagined him jetting in from Hollywood, maybe on a private plane, and shacking up in some luxurious suite. “I hate missing the red carpet.”

He told me that he was looking forward to seeing Dennis Hopper, and when I asked if he was going to hit the annual Sapphire afterparty, he asked me if I was a dancer. Now, I could say I got quasi-hit-on by Jack Nicholson. How’s that for bragging rights?

Except that he wasn’t Jack Nicholson. The imposter turned out to be actor Norman Deesing from the Cinevegas Pioneer Documentary Youth Knows No Pain, and he seemed to be enjoying the misplaced attention. Later it was discovered that he spent $70,000 on cosmetic surgery in order to resemble Jack. I can't say it was money well-spent, but his doctor did a damn good job.

And the celebrity doppelganger wasn’t the only one enjoying Lavo.

As usual the bathhouse-inspired club was full of attractive women, including actresses from the films screening at CineVegas, well, strippers who were temporarily actresses, at least.

A trio of pretty young women were smiling, sipping their cocktails and subtly shaking their hips to the music.

“Those are the girls from [CineVegasWorld Premiere film] Modus Operandi,” someone mentioned, and this time, it was true.

“The director approached me out at a club and asked if I was interested in doing this movie,” said Latasha Glover, an exotic dancer from Milwaukee, Wisc. “I didn’t believe it at first, but then something told me to go along with it. I had a really good feeling about it.

“For me being a chick, I really do like the part where I kill someone,” she said of the film, in which she plays a spy who goes undercover as an exotic dancer, her real-life profession. “It’s ‘70s-based, so it was a little more relaxed, a little more vintage, a little more go-go style.”

The Milwaukee-set James Bond-esque thriller, starring Danny Trejo, screens Saturday at 9:00 p.m. or Sunday at 11:00 p.m. Keep your eyes peeled for Glover’s minute-long cameo.

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