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Edgy Guy
Article Courtesy Microsoft Cinemedia


Until a few weeks ago, I knew Michael Douglas only from his movie roles. If you were to create a composite of them, you'd expect to find an intense, edgy, contemporary guy, with eyes darting about for the next catastrophe. In fact, the Michael Douglas I met, on assignment for Entertainment Tonight in San Francisco, was personable, forthcoming, exceedingly pleasant. I have no doubt that his eyes take everything in—good and bad—but he's also a charmer.

If I had to sum up my impression of him as a film actor and filmmaker, I'd guess that the best description would be "team player."

He credits much of that to his five-year experience costarring with Karl Malden on the TV series The Streets of San Francisco. "All those episodes made it so important for me to realize the discipline. I got a deep appreciation for the producers and the writers. We had a prologue, four acts, an epilogue—a very formal structure—so I learned a tremendous amount about dramatic structure. Actors and actresses can save your life—they can make any director or cameraperson look really good. And, the team—the director and everybody else going together. It's a collaborative craft; it's a collaborative art form, but it's more like a craft."

As for all those stories you hear about stars making exorbitant demands for "perks" on a production, or throwing their weight around, Douglas says that kind of thinking is foreign to his experience—as a star and as a producer. "I don't have a lot of patience for certain actor indulgences, in terms of people waiting or being abusive to people because of the position they might have. Again, I'm out of television—a working ensemble, working tightly together. I know how important a good crew is, and the esprit de corps. You're a company, and to share together is so much more beneficial."

He understands that actors are, by their very nature, insecure. "I understand that, and a lot of times you feel really alone, or you get anxiety attacks. I think that's the biggest advantage of being second-generation was watching my father—when I was a kid—doing films, and how he behaved. There was nothing magical about it for me, which is both good and bad, but I didn't have any false impressions. I knew the kind of work that it took, but at the same time, I lost a little of that kind of magic feeling that some kid from Ohio might have coming out here."

But how, I wondered, could a man so experienced as a movie producer—with credits ranging from the multi-Oscar-winning 's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to this summer's Face/Off—turn off that part of his brain and function solely as an actor in someone else's movie, as he just has for director David Fincher in The Game.

Douglas makes it sound easy. "I just love to act," he says. "I love the freedom of not having to worry or think about anything else." He does admit that while shooting The Game (which had an exceptionally long filming schedule of 103 days, all but one with its star), he did have to occasionally spend some time dealing with Face/Off, though most of the day-to-day decisions were left to his partner, Steven Reuther.

But, he adds, that was almost a welcome diversion from the rigors of shooting The Game. "I had to fly up a couple of times to Vancouver, (Canada), to meet with (director) John Woo when he was up there working on the script. But sometimes you almost need a diversion to take your mind off what you're doing when you're really consumed. I've always hopped back and forth a little bit, so I'm kind of used to it."

Douglas struck me as a man who's happy with where he is, right now, in his career. He's admitted that for many years his producer's sensibility sometimes eclipsed his choices as an actor; he would consider the overall film more than the opportunities a particular part might present.

"I was a guy who had terrible stage fright most of his career, certainly when I began, and it's nice to reach a certain point in your life (where) there's a confidence, an inherent confidence that you feel like you can do anything. So I hope I'll become more aware of the parts rather than the movies, in a selfish kind of way. I would like to do that, in terms of stretching (my) range."

One thing is certain: the movie world is his oyster. The possibilities are limitless. And the reason is simple: the man has talent to go along with his smarts.



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