Jack Nicholson's son Ray reveals he 'can't talk about a lot' with his famous father amid fears for reclusive 89-year-old icon

Ray Nicholson, the son of Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson, has made rare remarks about his relationship with his famed father in a new interview.

Ray, 34, told older sister Lorraine Nicholson, 36, in an Interview magazine feature that while some topics can be off-limits for them, sports is a connecting bond.

'I love sports so much. It's also the language of love that me and dad share,' Ray said of his father, whose friend Michael Douglas revealed last month is 'not working any more' and 'has disappeared' from the limelight.

Ray added, 'We can't talk about a lot, but we can talk about the f***ing Lakers until kingdom come.'

Amid declining health, Nicholson's 'socializing days are gone,' as friends had been concerned the Oscar-winner was 'dying a recluse' following 'such a colorful life,' an insider previously said. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Jack Nicholson for further comment on the story. 

'His kids will visit, but they're his only connection to the world,' an insider previously told Radar Online. 'It's like he doesn't want to face reality anymore - and that's just sad.'

In the discussion, Lorraine asked Ray about his path to acting, which he said went through sports: 'I thought that I was going to go to Boston College and play football ... I thought I was going to be Jerry Maguire.'

Ray said that following a difficult high school football loss, he thought he had broken his elbow, and he and mother Rebecca Broussard, 63, 'went to the hospital right away.'

He continued: 'They sent us out because I had a staph infection that got so bad it turned into MRSA, and I had to have 24-hour nurses.

'They put a mark on my arm that was like, 'If it gets past here, we're cutting your arm.''

Ray said he experienced a 'voice-of-god moment' that steered him away from his sports ambitions and toward the camera 'that was like, 'You don't want to do this. You want to be an actor.''

Ray, who has also been seen in films such as Novocaine and Smile 2, said he was initially worried about telling his father about his career ambition.

'I was really scared to tell dad,' Ray said. 'But I went to USC and learned to love everything about filmmaking.

'My education really taught me that dad isn't God. He's not the only thing in this film industry. He's a beautiful part of it, but a very small part.'

Ray said that he views acting as not just a way to impress his father, but as a journey in self-discovery.

'Of course, making dad proud is high on my list, but this is really a way of finding who I am,' Ray said. 'And I feel that I'm on the right path to that.'

Ray can be seen in the new Netflix film The Mosquito Bowl, playing the role of Tony Butkovich, a college football standout who had been drafted into the NFL, but instead joined the Marines during World War II.

The motion picture, based on the 2022 book from Buzz Bissinger, is directed by Peter Berg and also stars Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård and Tom Francis.

Ray last month told USA Today that he was 'a little trepidatious' at first to seek a career in show business.

'I grew up around it,' he said. 'It was the thing that made my family different. It was the thing that took my dad away from my home. So, of course, I had different feelings about it. I stopped thinking about all of that and it made it better.'

Ray said that he has 'learned to love the craft and be a good person to work with.'