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Michael Douglas: Weird Circumstances
By Patrick Stoner
For FLICKS

Stoner: You and I have been conducting interviews through several films where you've been battered by weird circumstances (FATAL ATTRACTION, BASIC INSTINCT, FALLING DOWN, DISCLOSURE, WAR OF THE ROSES, etc.). Now, here we are again. THE GAME continues.
Douglas: The game continues, Patrick. I keep getting myself into these things, don't I?

Stoner: You do, indeed. Does the constant immersion in paranoid fantasies tend to color your view of life?
Douglas: You know, I think it does, sometimes. You begin to see powerful forces everywhere, beyond your control. [laughs] You begin to wonder about your sense of paranoia after a while.

Stoner: Yet, you do it over and over again.
Douglas: Well, yes, I did do it again, but this was such a good script and so unique. You're never sure what is really happening, and just about the time you think you've got it figured out, it skips off in a different direction. I don't know about you, Patrick, but I don't see many interesting scripts these days. Most of what comes across my desk -- well, it's like I've seen it all before, some of it from one film, some of it from another film. You know?

Stoner: I do, but speaking of your desk: You've been a producer as well as an actor for a long time [he won an Oscar as the producer of the Best Picture in 1975 for ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST], but you're just a hired gun in THE GAME.
Douglas: Just a hired gun, right. I need that from time to time. It's good to be able to concentrate JUST on your acting. In this case, we shot for 103 days, and I was there every one of those days. That's plenty. You can work on your character and enjoy working with the other actors -- like Sean [Penn, his brother in THE GAME]. He was so good -- so giving. It was a pleasure to work with him.

Stoner: I didn't know Sean very well, except by reputation. Then I interviewed him and was surprised to find a serious, sensitive guy who really cared about his work.
Douglas: And that's what I found him to be, in any case. I mean, he likes a good time, but he takes his work seriously. And, as my brother -- you know, I'm looking at him, that cleft in his chin, just like mine, and I'm thinking, "Boy, Dad really DID get around, didn't he?"

Stoner: [laughs] I've never thought about that! That was bad, Michael!

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