Michael Douglas: Playboy Interview

"Every kid has to kick his father in the balls."

That, movie fans, is a proud Kirk Douglas on his son Michael Douglas, one of the most popular actors—and most successful producers—of the Eighties. Although Michael will admit that being born the son of one of the most famous men in the world hasn't hurt him professionally, he has carved out a singular, though equally granite-chinned, reputation for himself: He was the force behind a couple of the most politically influential movies of recent times—One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The China Syndrome—as well as the actor-producer in one of the biggest romantic-comedy hits of all time, Romancing the Stone, and what promises to be an equally popular sequel, Jewel of the Nile. He is a reminder to some that the activism of the Sixties is not dead (though it is a good deal richer) and, to top it all off, he is—irritatingly enough—considered by most to be a good guy.

Although Kirk is not exactly unbiased, we thought we'd let his observations open this introduction. In a background interview, he told us how he saw Michael's development—and who were we to argue? We figured he knew; and besides, the man was Spartacus, for God's sake. Here with Kirk:

"If I'd known what a big shot Michael was going to be, I would have been nicer to him when he was a kid. For one thing, Michael had a hatred and contempt for the world of entertainment when he was growing up; I thought he might make a good lawyer. I remember that he went through this very wild period in the Sixties. Once I visited him and he asked me to stay with him. Well, he was living in this ramshackle building, at the top of these rickety steps. He slept on the floor. There was a box spring for me. I said, 'Next time I come to visit you, I'll stay in the Biltmore Hotel. I spent my life trying to get out of places like this.'

"It amazes me now. Here he is on the California Board of Regents, yet he got kicked out of college one semester. After Michael finally made it out of college, he got a job as a lead on a TV show, The Experiment. He did an excellent job. Then he got several leads in movies that didn't do very well. I agree with him that things happened a little too quickly. At first he thought, There's nothing to it.

"The Streets of San Francisco was the first thing that gave him attention. When, after four years, Michael said he was going to quit to make Cuckoo's Nest, I knew the show would not continue. He and Karl [Malden] had developed a wonderful rapport.

"I did the play version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest back in 1963, but I was never able to get a movie version of the book rolling. Michael wanted to have a go at it. I thought, Why not? I knew it would be a lesson if nothing else. The movie was phenomenal. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to play the McMurphy role, but I can't complain. The picture made nearly $200,000,000, and I have a piece of it. I made more money on that than I did on Spartacus.

"I did warn Michael about Ken Kesey and told him and Saul [co-producer Saul Zaentz] not to hire him to write the movie. There was a lot of stuff about Kesey in the Sixties, but, hey, I knew him way before those guys did. I'm the one who argued with him that he was a cop-out, that he should get off his ass and stop being a guru and start writing. That's why I told Michael not to use him. I felt he was burned out. All he's done since then is Sometimes a Great Notion, which is a lesser work, and some piece for Esquire about a cow. It's sad; I like Kesey. I'd like to see him.

"When Cuckoo's Nest took five Oscars in 1976, including best picture, I was proud. I was watching on TV. I wasn't nervous, cause it had gotten so many nominations. And what's so terrible if you don't win? I've been nominated many times and I never won an Oscar.

"I've seen everything my sons have done. I do think that as an actor, Michael has not extended himself to his fullest capacities. I think he has dramatic qualities that he hasn't expressed yet. I used to kid Michael. I'd say, 'Yes, you're an excellent producer. But why are you always producing pictures that have such wonderful parts for other people? How about producing a movie for a wonderful actor named Michael Douglas? Your father's company developed Spartacus, and there just happened to be a very good role for me. Same with The Vikings and Paths of Glory. What's wrong with giving a good actor called Michael Douglas a part?'"

We'll take it from here, Kirk.

Michael took his father's advice in producing The China Syndrome and co-starred in it with Jane Fonda. It is a thriller about an accident in a nuclear power plant. About three weeks after the movie's release, there was an accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, uncannily similar to the one in the movie.

Douglas then served as co-executive producer of Starman; but it was Romancing the Stone, made for less than $10,000,000 and grossing $100,000,000, that put him over the top. With its crocodiles and the famous mud slide with co-star Kathleen Turner and Douglas slipping and sliding through slime and muck in the jungle, the movie is still one of the top-selling video cassettes. Since then, he has taken a lackluster role as Zach, the choreographer in A Chorus Line, and, of course, the romantic lead in the current Jewel of the Nile.

Douglas, 40, born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, was seven when his parents divorced. He went to live with his mother, English-born actress Diana Douglas, and his stepfather, novelist Bill Darrid, in Connecticut, where, he says, he "didn't do shit" in prep schools. He spent summers with his father—who had also remarried—on movie sets and in Hollywood.

He attended the University of California in Santa Barbara, where he was more interested in the social climate—this was the mid-Sixties—than in his studies. With a few stage credits under his belt and a resemblance to his father as either help or hindrance, he got leading roles in four forgettable movies. It took a big break in TV to turn things around—which led to four years as the sidekick turned co-star in The Streets of San Francisco.

Off screen, Douglas has an unusual reputation for a Hollywood big shot. City magazine once titled a piece about him "The Nicest Guy in Town?" and, indeed, in a business known for everything but, his colleagues saythat Douglas is decent and conscientious but tough. As filming of Jewel of the Nile was winding down, between a trip to London to complete the looping of A Chorus Line and the start of a short vacation, Playboy arranged for David and Victoria Sheff to meet with Douglas. Their report:

"You work hard when you're both a movie star and a producer. For nine months without a break on the set of Jewel of the Nile, Douglas involved himself in everything from negotiating with Moroccan officials for the release of prop guns tied up in customs, to arranging to have water piped in so his actors could bathe, to averting a strike in one department by talking to each crew member involved. Then, on cue, he had to be Jack Colton, smiling his cocky smile, when the assistant director shouted, 'Rolling!'

"In spite of fatigue, burnout and a small epidemic of the flu, Douglas, Turner, actor Danny De Vito and the rest of the cast turned out for the Survivors of Morocco party at the Regency Club on the beach in Nice, a sort of wrap party for Jewel. He still seemed tense. When the second glass of champagne finally hit, Michael began to relax. As fireworks crackled in the sky, he and Turner danced a tango and he exchanged warm hugs with De Vito. But then the producer was asked about the schedule for the last day of shooting. And about film-transportation problems. Suddenly, there were all these little things. . . .

"Several days later, we helicoptered into St.-Tropez (yes, this was a tough one), where Michael and his son, Cameron, met us and, together, we watched the finale of the annual St.-Tropez wind-surfing championship. We then headed to the hilltop château Douglas was renting to begin the interview session. In a room overlooking the vineyards, we talked for hours and then went to the beach, where, over paella and local rosé, we talked some more while Michael fended off exhaustion.

"Later, at another beach club, he seemed at last to be getting into the South of France style of life. With Cameron's polar-bear puppets on each hand, one puppet clutching a stiff drink, he was obviously in an ornery mood. He mused, 'It will be a long time before I act in and produce the same picture again.'

"A month later, when we had a final session at his New York apartment, he was already planning his next acting/producing venture—a political thriller about Central America. 'But you said—' we probed. 'What the hell,' he replied with Jack Colton's grin. 'Changed my mind.'

"One more thing. His old man's a pretty nice guy, too."