Michael Douglas Interview in Print

On October 27, the Savannah College of Art and Design and the Savannah Film Festival presented Academy Award winning actor and producer, Michael Douglas, with a Lifetime Achievement in Acting award. Douglas has starred in films such as “Romancing the Stone,” “Wall Street,” “Traffic” and “Basic Instinct.”

Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award left Douglas with mixed emotions.

“[The award makes me feel] old. You always think when you get these awards maybe they talked to my doctor and they know something I don’t. But it’s a lovely honor,” said Douglas.
Douglas also said the real thrill in being given the award is that it gave him the opportunity to visit Savannah for the first time. Douglas said that he was very happy to explore Savannah with his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and his children, Dylan and Carys. Douglas and his family toured Fort Pulaski, visited with President Paula S. Wallace and were able to see many SCAD buildings including Bobbie’s Diner.

“It’s sort of a mindblower when you realize [SCAD] started in ’79. All I do is drive around town and ‘Oh, that’s a SCAD building and that’s a SCAD building.’ Each of them preserved and looking more cherried out than the next. It’s pretty impressive,” said Douglas.

Douglas began his career in the early 1970s acting on the television show, “The Streets of San Francisco.” However, his career didn’t really get jumpstarted until he started producing films, a career which he said he “lucked into.” He ended up being very lucky when the first film he produced, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” won all five of the major Academy Award categories including a Best Picture Oscar for Douglas.

For him, the key to producing quality work is the source material. Douglas first read “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in college. Later, he discovered that his father, Kirk Douglas, owned the rights to the book. He then bought the rights from his father and spent nearly six years developing the book into a film.

“If you have a piece of material that’s good, it attracts the elements, it will attract the financing. The big trouble with movies today is how much it costs to market them, the publicity. But if you find a piece of material that you really like and you know how to make it into a three-act structure, then you’ll attract the people to you.”

Douglas said that producing has helped him in many ways in regards to his acting.
“Producing is like seeing the whole picture. You have to understand what the movie is going to be in three acts. Acting is like tunnel vision. They kind of pay you to be selfish. As an actor, having a producing background makes me see the whole movie. So I’m pretty good at knowing what my responsibility is, if I have to pick up the pace or create threat or create humor,” said Douglas.

Douglas has also won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film, “Wall Street.” Currently, a script is in development for a sequel to that film titled, “Money Never Sleeps.” Douglas is attached to star in the film but he is not producing it.

“They’re working on a draft. And I just threw my two cents in. I’m not a producer. So we’ll just see when the script comes in and how good of shape it’s in, if we can do it or not,” said Douglas.
Thankfully, it seems the Lifetime Achievement Award is motivating him to continue to add to his impressive body of work. During his acceptance speech at the awards ceremony Douglas spoke of the other benefit of the award — his children now know what he does.

“I don't have a movie that they can see. So up until tonight, they knew mommy is an actress and daddy makes pancakes. So thank you. Now they know what their father does,” said Douglas.


by Danielle Koch
News Editor, District