It’s been 20 years since Jerry Lewis last starred in a film. But he’s returned to the big screen in “Max Rose,” a melancholy movie about a jazz pianist who mourns the death of his wife.

Raymond Arroyo, managing editor of EWTN and editor-at-large at LifeZette, sat down for an exclusive interview with the legendary Lewis at his home in Las Vegas. Arroyo said the actor, director, and comedian is “moving a little bit slower these days, but he is still entertaining, snappy and, in this interview, as moving as ever.”

“To be closing in on the end of your career, you want it to be meaningful.”

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Lewis turned 90 in March and was candid about his age: “It’s a monster number, all right. You don’t think about it — until you try to walk.”

Still, there is something good about the age. “The good part is making it,” Lewis quipped.

“You’re torn between ‘isn’t that wonderful’ and … 90! You’re thanking God quietly for the gift, because I think it’s a gift. According to the census in this country, there’s not a lot of people that make 90. So you start off with gratitude and making sure you don’t forget the blessings.”

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The reality of it can be a little harsher, though, Lewis admitted to Arroyo. “I get out of the shower and look in the full-length mirror, and I’m looking in the mirror and I’m saying, ‘He made 90, but look at him! He looks 90.’ And then I laugh at it. You have to laugh at it.”

In “Max Rose,” Lewis isn’t playing the comedy we’ve seen him perform for most of his career. It’s a dramatic role, one that seemed fitting for the star right at this moment.

“‘Max Rose’ is an unusual film for Jerry Lewis. There’s none of the pratfalls — he doesn’t walk into a wall, hang himself with a telephone cord.” And, Lewis added, that’s “a joy.”

There are scenes that are reminiscent of some of Lewis’ funny earlier bits in films — such as when Lewis did a music pantomime to Count Basie’s “Cute” in “Cinderfella.” He does a similar bit in “Max Rose.”

“‘Max Rose’ is an unusual film for Jerry Lewis,” said Jerry Lewis.

Arroyo noted that it’s a powerful movie, but a very different one for Lewis — we get to see him reveal a part of himself. The actor said the reason for doing the film is powerful, too.

“It’s almost like saying goodbye, but I’m going to do it like a gentleman,” said Lewis, explaining that he fell in love with the script. It felt right to him.

“To go out or to be closing in on the end of your career, you want it to be meaningful and not pie in the face or water down your pants and not a slide through a glass door. This is just a man suffering from all the ills that happen to you when you’re 90 — you don’t walk so good, your sight is going, you don’t hear very well.”

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Lewis said people ask him how he made it to 90. “How the hell do I know how I got to 90?” is his response. But he does know one thing that’s important: “I look around me and see the glory and joy of what’s been given to me at 90.”

He admitted he thinks about death “all the time.”

And he doesn’t see this film as a comeback. “Comeback!? I did 63 films!” he said, feisty as ever.

“It’s very nice to have happen on the screen what’s really happening in real life. It’s the end of my career. I have to respect that, and I have to respect that audiences will see that.”