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| “ | Maybe if you could stop complaining and be a little grateful. | „ |
| ~ Old Nick displaying his malefic nature. |
| “ | Well, hey sonny. | „ |
| ~ Old Nick coming face to face with Jack after raping Joy. |
Old Nick is the main antagonist of the 2015 independent drama film Room as well as Emma Donoghue's novel of the same name. He is a criminal who kidnapped and raped Joy "Ma" Newsome in captivity and is the biological father of her son, Jack.
He was portrayed by Sean Bridgers, who also portrayed Chris Cleek in The Woman and Tommy Cole in The Best of Me.
History[]
Backstory[]
Old Nick lured 17-year-old Joy Newsome by pretending that his dog was sick and asking for her help; he then kidnapped her and held her captive in his garden shed. He repeatedly raped her, which eventually resulted in her getting pregnant and giving birth to a son, Jack.
For the next seven years, Old Nick held them both as prisoners, occasionally bringing them food and supplies. Joy made sure that never saw Jack in order to protect the boy.
In the novel[]
During one visit, Old Nick tells Joy that he has lost his job and says that he may not be able to afford their supplies for much longer; it is implied that he plans to kill them.
To save Jack and herself, Joy trains him to pretend to be dead so Old Nick will take him out of the room to bury him. Old Nick is fooled and wraps the boy up in a carpet and puts him in the bed of his truck. Jack escapes, and rushes to a group of passersby, yelling for help. Old Nick panics and drives away, but he is arrested later that night. Joy, meanwhile, is reunited with her son and her parents.
Old Nick is found guilty of kidnapping and raping Joy and is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Personality[]
Old Nick's behavior matches up with a description of someone with narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders: he is cruel, violent, manipulative, and completely self-centered. He takes sadistic pleasure in raping Joy and holding her and Jack prisoner; to him, they are his possessions, not human beings with lives and feelings of their own. Old Nick is also shown to be methodical and calculating, as demonstrated in the complex setup of Room, considering all possibilities as demonstrated with the steel door and code.
Trivia[]
- Old Nick is based on Josef Fritzl, Ariel Castro, and Phillip Garrido, three men who kidnapped their victims and held them captive and sexually abused them for years, fathering their children in the process.
- Old Nick is another name for the Devil. Emma Donoghue stated that the novel is like "a battle between Mary and the Devil for baby Jesus.".