Actor’s son finds own niche

Press, 12 July 1984, Page 23

Actor’s son finds own niche

NZPA-AP Los Angeles Michael Douglas has not overtaken his father’s acting fame, but he has created a record that any film producer would be proud of. The eldest son of Kirk Douglas co-produced “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest,” with Saul Zaentz in 1975. Filmed for $4.4 million, it has attracted a world gross of $2OO million.

In 1979, he co-produced “The China Syndrome” with Jane Fonda’s I.P.C. Films. It became one of the most talked-about films in recent times when Three Mile Island paralleled its fictional account of a threatened nuclear meltdown. The $6.1 million drama was also a financial success, grossing $65 million.

Now he has “Romancing the Stone,” which he both produced and stars in. It has attracted favourable reviews and earned $5 million in 824 theatres the first week-end it opened. It was produced for $9.5 million. Throughout his career, Douglas jun., now 38, has shunned any pattern. After he drew attention in such movies as “Hail Hero” and “Adam at 6 a.m.,” he abandoned features to play Karl

Maiden’s sidekick in the television police series, “Streets of San Francisco.” After four years in television, Douglas returned to films. “Cuckoo’s Nest” took more than four years to make. He then returned to acting in “Coma.” He produced and starred with Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda in “The China Syndrome.” After that, he said he played house father for two years while his wife, Diandra, went to school. “It was fun being able to be with my son in his early

years,” he said. The Douglas’s son, Cameron, is now five. Douglas admits that it might be easier for him to stick to acting. He has managed to produce only three films in eight years. But the challenge of creating a project and seeing it through to completion is something he can’t resist. He read a script 5% years ago by Diane Thomas, who was trying to become a screenwriter while serving meals at Alice’s Restaurant on Malibu Pier. The story concerned a sedate author of romance novels who finds herself enmeshed in an adventurous search for buried treasure in Colombia. Douglas bought the script, counselled Miss Thomas on rewrites, and took the project to Colombia Pictures. He fell out with the studio over who would direct the film. He then took “Romancing the Stone” to Twentieth Century-Fox. Kathleen Turner, of “Body Heat” fame, was cast as the novelist. A Steven Spielberg protege, Robert Zemeckis, from “Used Cars,” was asked to direct.

That left the role of Jack Colton, the larger-than-life hero in the adventure.

“Whenever I have a picture, I offer Jack Nicholson the lead first,” said Douglas. “I wanted him to play the television cameraman in ‘China Syndrome,’ which I finally did. When he turned down ‘Romancing the Stone,’ I decided there were so few parts as strong that I might as well do it myself.” Colombia was too dangerous, and so Douglas chose to film in Mexico, attractive because of devaluation of the peso and the resource of

skilled film workers. The movie was made in a wide number of locations as well as an old television studio in Mexico City. Douglas and his brother, Peter, converted it into a modern plant which they now rent to other producers.

He has three future projects: “Star Man,” to be directed bj' John Carpenter, “Zoo Plane,” Garry Trudeau’s script about the press who covered President Carter’s 1978 trip to Europe; and “Conquistador.” the conquest of Mexico, a miniseries for C.B.S.

In spite of the hefty projects, Douglas plans to move to New York and focus on acting. “I enjoy it a lot,” he said, “I can deal with producing and acting at the same time, but it is not a lot of laughs. The business is tougher now. It takes 18 months or two years to produce a picture, and you are judged on your last one. “ ‘Coma’ was a good transition for me, but I still have not found my niche as an actor. I am looking foward to my 40s, when I can play a wider variety of roles.”