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Douglas In The Lion's Den
By Bruce Kirkland
Toronto Sun
October 9, 1996


HOLLYWOOD -- Michael Douglas knew he had an image problem when he undertook to make the Victorian-era African thriller The Ghost And The Darkness -- and not just because Val Kilmer was his co-star.

Ghost, which opens Friday in Toronto, is based on a true-life account of two rogue man-eating lions who killed 135 people involved in the construction of a British railroad bridge over the Tsavo River in East Africa. The year was 1898. The marauding lions held up construction for nine months before they were finally hunted down, killed and stuffed (the pair are now on display in Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History). "The word 'tsavo' literally means place of slaughter," says Douglas. "But we're going up against The Lion King," Douglas says of his film's marketing challenge. "We're going up against this romantic image of lions. We're talking about this endangered species. But, in this story, they're almost like monsters, because that is how certain people saw them -- as evil spirits."

Douglas, executive producer of the film as well as Kilmer's co-star, helped develop the project, hired near-legend William Goldman to write it (Goldman won Oscars for writing Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid and All The President's Men) and shepherded it through filming on location in South Africa.

Recently, he helped rehabilitate Kilmer's shaky reputation and showed up to promote the movie after staying up 'til 6 a.m. on the set of a contemporary psychological thriller called The Game, which he is shooting in L.A. for Seven director David Fincher. Douglas, as actor, was in no position to tell himself that he was too tired to show up to promote his own production.

"Yeah," Douglas laughs, "especially after talking to Val and getting him to turn up. I couldn't turn around and tell him I wouldn't show myself."

Douglas is so keen on The Ghost And The Darkness he wakes up almost instantly anyway, fueled by enthusiasm. Making the film itself was a revelatory experience and he wants to talk about it. He was introduced to the lure of Africa, loved Kilmer's company (Kilmer taught him a lot of animal lore) and found himself drawn to the Victorian era for the first time.

"I felt, 'WOW! Am I lucky!' This is what it's about. This was so exciting. This was a magical experience. And I didn't have the responsibility of carrying the movie."

That gave Douglas the freedom to take liberties in his own performance. The Ghost is his co-star's movie, on screen. "Val Kilmer did what I usually do. I'm usually in every single scene and when you are, you really carry the burden of the picture. It tends to make you conservative as an actor.

"This time it was a little like making Wall Street. Charlie Sheen, it was really his picture that time. The Ghost And The Darkness is a picture in which I really got a chance to overact, just sort of get out there, have some fun."

Kilmer's role as Irish bridge engineer John Patterson is the anchor of the piece. Douglas plays a fictional character, a composite of various professional hunters who descended on the scene in 1898 trying to kill the lions and make their legend.

"The first time I came down to do a scene, I was OUT there and I saw the director looking at me funny," Douglas chuckles. "But I said I'm going to bring a little levity, a little humor and a little off-beat stuff. I didn't want to do Clint Eastwood's Great White Hunter." And now he doesn't want anyone to think about Disney's The Lion King. This time, the lions are the villains.


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