Michael Douglas
by Roxanna Bina IFQ sits down with legendary actor Michael Douglas as he discusses Bermuda, his different film projects and success, winning Academy Awards and creating his own genre category. Despite his success in Hollywood, Douglas remains humble and distances himself away from the chaos.
IFQ: It seems as if you still enjoy living in Bermuda after all of these years?
Michael Douglas: My mother is Bermudan and I have always spent long periods of time here. Now that I have a new family with two young children, I think this is the ideal place to raise a family. People are kind and life is laid-back. We’re far away from the ever crazed pace of Hollywood. Here, I can reflect and appreciate my private family life.
IFQ: How do you choose to be involved with pictures?
MD: If you’re going to spend 2 or 3 years of your life from the development phase to the shooting to the promotion and release, it better be a pure act of passion. I get excited about pictures when I’m flying without a net. I love to get involved with movies that take risks. Sometimes [films], like Falling Down, nobody wants to make. That particular movie interested me because it showed another face of California. It was not about the glamour of Hollywood, but it was about a man who became desperate after losing his job and family. After the end of the Cold War, California, which was very much involved with the military and the defense industry, couldn’t keep its task force at work. Many people were given pink slips with nowhere to go to. To get involved with a film, I need to be moved, whether it makes laugh or cry.
IFQ: You took a risk with that role because this character was so scary.
MD: The haircut was the scary part! It’s funny how this came about. We were sitting down with the haircutter and someone proposed out of the blue, “Why don’t you do a flat top?” And I replied, “Ok!,” and here we are!
IFQ: It was a chance for you to work again with Joel Schumacher?
MD: Right. Joel is a dear friend of mine. I had produced Flatliners. [Joel Schumacher directed Flatliners]. We knew we wanted to work again together with me as an actor. It’s funny because I go way back with Joel. He and I would go to sit-down dinner parties and we would be put at the table in the back with no names set on it. We were totally unknown at the time. We kept in touch and stayed friends.
IFQ: At 30, you won your first Academy Award as a producer for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. You were the youngest producer to receive such an award. How did you feel at the time when you received this award?
MD: At the time I thought about two things: one- I realized I had never thought about being a producer and I was lucky to have been involved with that book. My father had the book’s rights that he bought for me. He even did a Broadway adaptation of the book. Then, he thought about selling the movie rights. My acting career was going pretty well and I went and asked him to make a movie from the book and the play. I really liked that story. It took another 6 to 7 years process to bring it to the screen. What helped is that the show I was playing in, The Streets of San Francisco, was so intensive in terms of process that I learned a lot about production and shooting. After 4 years, I asked to leave the show and they let me go, which would not have happened so easily today. I went ahead to produce Cuckoo’s Nest in spite of people thinking I was nuts. With that success as a film producer and the Oscar, I was able to make the transition from being a TV actor to a film actor. This was hard because other than a few exceptions like Clint Eastwood or Steve McQueen, you would see rarely TV actors jump into a film career. I put myself in the next film that I also produced, The China Syndrome.
IFQ: Do you think the movie industry changed in terms of financing and is it harder to finance a movie today?
MD: It changed in the sense where studios are a part of a huge conglomerate who are involved in all kinds of business and who are also totally integrated vertically and horizontally. They are given a certain budget and they have to be responsible to spend it accurately and bring back profits. Having said that, studios are not only making purely commercial movies, because with the success of Miramax it shows that you can have an “independent” or “classic” division that can do smaller films, budget wise, but with a greater artistic sensibility. It is hard to make movies, but I think it has always been hard and competitive. Also, it’s a new exciting time because there are lots of money from Wall Street, from the wide business world, getting into the movies and in Hollywood. There are always new blood and sources to finance your pictures.
IFQ: Another movie Romancing the Stone and its sequel allowed you to show another side of your talent. This film allowed Robert Zemeckis to become a big director.
MD: Right. It was also an interesting project written by a first time writer, Diane Thomas. That was hard to finance. I remember that we paid a large amount of money for this script written by a “waitress” and even were criticized for it. I don’t care; as long as the script is good, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s your first or tenth script. Also, I’m glad that we believed in Robert Zemeckis whose career at 23 was kind of over because he had made two movies, executive produced by Steven Spielberg, that didn’t work. But I offered him at [age] 27 or 28 the film to direct and look at his career afterwards. At the time it was unheard of doing a genre of film, which is a mix of comedy, action and romance. This was a pretty big gamble. It was worth it. I remember that it was a nightmare shoot in Mexico and that it was very difficult for me to be a producer and one of the main actors in it at the same time.
IFQ: After that period, you created your own genre category, “the man in trouble” movies, especially with Fatal Attraction, Disclosure and Basic Instinct.
MD: You’re right. It all started with Fatal Attraction , which at first was a short film called Mouse Trap. Again with this film, we knew we were in dangerous waters because of my role as an adulterer. This theme about how the sexes are sometimes uncomfortable with each other was fascinating for me so I went ahead and took another chance at another challenge. Thanks to a great director, Adrian Lyne and a great actress, Glenn Close, we were able to put it together and turn it into a success. One thing that was amazing was that we changed the ending and had to re-shoot it because after we showed it to audiences, they really didn’t like [it]. Because films cost so much and they are such a collaborative job, we felt compelled about changing the ending where she commits suicide into something more beautiful and rewarding.
IFQ: On top of the pressure of fulfilling the expectation of the audience, there is a new pressure, the media’s invasion of privacy.
MD: It’s true that it has become a media frenzy out there. Everything is about money and when you have a story, it seems like certain people try to make it last forever. I’m not sure about the impact of stories like on real filmgoers. Some media are very intrusive, but you need to work with them. Recently, I had a new movie that came out, The Sentinel and there were critics online [writing] about the film. Fortunately, they are good, but this can affect the motivation of the public to go or not see your film. There isn’t anything you can do to keep away the press. Right now, Catherine [Zeta-Jones] is shooting a new movie in New York and there are paparazzi getting right behind the shooting camera on the set to take pictures of her, just because it’s in a street and that is legal. It’s really touchy. It’s hard to have a private life these days. It’s all about the accessibility of information. Everything is downloaded on the Internet as soon as it is shot and people can get access to it.
IFQ: Are you nostalgic about the old days when your dad was working for the studio system and his privacy was so well protected?
MD: A little bit. But you know, he grew during a time where there were only two TV networks, so there was not such coverage from the media about the private lives of movie stars.
IFQ: At least living in Bermuda, you’re far away from the media craze.
MD: Are you kidding? Bermuda is pretty small and everyone knows each other. So it’s a bad thing to have a marriage in trouble in Bermuda!
IFQ: Talking of being a movie star, Wall Street established you as a major movie star. You received an Academy Award for Best Actor. How did you go about getting involved with this film?
MD: I didn’t know Oliver Stone, but I had heard of him and he hired me for Wall Street. Oliver is so brilliant. Everyone he worked with, all these actors gave their best with him–Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July and Kevin Costner in JFK. He is not afraid to push it and be adversarial. I remember that with me, the second week of shooting, he came to my trailer and said, “Are you ok? Are you on drugs?” I said, “No, why?” He continued, “Well, it looks like you never acted in your life!” He told me to go look at the dailies, which is something I don’t do. I found out that I was pretty good so I was puzzled. I came back and told him that I thought it was ok. He said, “You’re right, it’s ok.” It shows he wanted just a little more hitch, a little more edge and he had to make me hate him in order to get that in my performance! I think sometimes directors patronize actors too much. Winning an Oscar for Wall Street and also having done Fatal Attraction put me out of the shadow of my father. I think this was a turning point in my career and I was more than ever able to do what I wanted to do.
IFQ: What was it difficult working with David Fincher on The Game?
MD: No, David is a visionary. He doesn’t worry so much about your performance, but more about the look of the picture. It was a tough shoot, but it was worth it because it was so unpredictable. You couldn’t tell how it was going to end. With most movies, you figure out the ending by the middle of the picture, but not with The Game.
IFQ: You do not impose your star status, even when you do a film like Wonder Boys, which was financed mainly because of your name but that demands for the entire ensemble cast to be the star of the film?
MD: Right, I never try to play like a movie star; I’m always just an actor. As a producer, I know that for a movie to work, you need to take in consideration and help every single performance in the picture, and not focus on just my role and whether I come out of it as a bigger star. I know what is needed to make a film work.
IFQ: How come you didn’t do the Basic Instinct 2?
MD: Even though the script was amazing, I thought I had given everything I could to that character. But it was great working with Sharon [Stone] during the first one and I wish her well for this new installment.
IFQ: During the last 5 years, we haven’t seen you as much on the screen. How come?
MD: I have a new family and I wanted to change my priorities and spend more time with my family. I developed the film The Sentinel, a great conspiracy thriller, and I have another one after that coming out. I’m trying to balance my work with my family life. I don’t want my work to dominate my life anymore. I’ll always look for good roles out there. I’m starting a new film in 3 weeks, The King of California with Alexander Payne.
IFQ: You are involved with lots of charities, but you don’t exploit it with the media and publicize it. How come?
MD: Both my mother and father have always been involved with charities and helping others, so I’m sure it has to do with that in part. But for me, it’s about recognizing I’m blessed and fortunate and others might not be, so I’m just happy to help, to give back what I was given.
IFQ: Lately, we saw you on Will and Grace. It is a return to TV?
MD: It was the only way to play a gay character! [laughs] No, really, I love the show and this was a fun opportunity. I’m open to TV if there is a good role out there. Television gets a bad rep, but the level of writing in television is amazing and the level of performances, as well.
IFQ: When will you and your wife co-star in a movie?
MD: It’s all about finding the right script. It can’t be a romance because it seems like people don’t want this type of film for actors, who are married together. But I’m looking at this project right now where I would play the villain!