Not only do I know Dr. Jack Kevorkian, but I know Neal Nicol, as well.
As a matter of fact, Neal sat down beside me in a theater in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to watch the socially evolved play, Good Death, that was created by the theater members at Western Michigan University, last October, and does a tremendous job at conveying the real Dr. Kevorkian to the public.
I had a bit of a problem with John Goodman in the role of Neal Nicol, due to the overabundance of belly and body fat the actor carries about. I was with Neal 15 years ago and 6 months ago, and, I can tell you that, yes, Neal Nicol is a big man, but he is not a big slump of fat like the actor who portrayed him.
I know a movie is a movie, but when the people are real and are the very people who helped my son, Nick Loving, escape the protracted suffering of Lou Gehrig’s and die a Good Death, the film is seen through a unique prism, one of actual experience.
By the way, Nick passed away on Neal’s couch in the living room of his lovely home, which had been used before and broken into by the police so many times that Neal put a sign over the front door saying, “Police Entrance.”
