Michael Douglas Discusses His Career, Working With Matt Damon And The WGA Strike During Cannes Mastercall: “I Think It Will Be Solved”

Zac Ntim
·4 min read
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This year’s Honorary Palme d’or recipient Michael Douglas received a lengthy standing ovation as he cruised on stage in Buñuel theatre to chair a masterclass session where he broke down his career as an actor and producer.

Opening the session, Douglas said that he has a long history with the Cannes Film Festival, which began with his father, Kirk, who met his stepmother Anna at the festival.

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He went on to list some of the films he has brought to the Croisette over the years, including Steven Soderbergh’s pic Behind the Candelabra, which screened in 2013. Douglas said that at the time, his performance as Liberace in the pic was in the pole position to nab the Festival’s Best Actor prize, but his momentum was quashed by critics who said the project couldn’t be described as a feature film because it was set to be released on HBO in the US.

“There became a disagreement as to whether it was actually a movie or not,” Douglas said, adding that he believes the barriers between TV and cinema will continue to fall, urging the audience not to disregard the artistic credibility of films made by streamers.

“I understand the rules of releasing in a movie theatre for at least one week. But the reality now is that streaming: They’re making movies,” he said. “If you’re fortunate, you can get them [the streamers] to release the movie in a theatre for a week. But you cannot underestimate streaming and treat it like it’s just television.”

Douglas spoke at length about his relationship with Soderbergh and the process of shooting Candelabra, which was one of his first projects following his Oral Cancer diagnosis in 2010.

“The script just came, which was incredible, wonderful,” Douglas said of Soderbergh’s screenplay before adding that he was impressed that Matt Damon, who he said was at height of his acting career, was willing to play a gay character in the film.

“Matt Damon was going to play my lover. I couldn’t believe it,” Douglas said. “This big movie star is going to play a gay guy right at the top of his career.”

However, Douglas said just as he had set his sights on the project, it quickly stalled because Damon and Soderbergh suddenly said they had diary conflicts, but that was, in fact, a lie the pair had concocted to give Douglas more time to prepare following his chemotherapy treatment.

“The truth was they didn’t want to tell me I was like a walking skeleton,” Douglas said. “I had lost so much weight. I assume they both decided to just make excuses to give me a year to put on some weight.”

Elsewhere, Douglas dug into some of the films he has produced, including 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, starring Jack Nicholson. Douglas said when he finished the film, he was confident that it would be a hit with audiences. However, when he took the pic to distributors, he was unable to land a deal.

“We thought it was pretty good, but then we took it to Hollywood to find a distributor, and everybody turned it down. The same picture that got nine Academy Award nominations, and every studio turned it down. They all said who wants to make another Snake Pit,” he said.

“Finally, we were able to make a distribution deal, and revenge is a dish best-served cold.”

Later during the session, Douglas was quizzed about the current WGA strike in Hollywood, which he said was largely the result of a shift in the structure of film financing and the loss of residual payments for writers.

“A lot of writers are working right now, but they’re working at minimum salaries,” he said. “And that is the issue that is going on right now. I think it will be solved.”

Douglas received the Honorary Palme d’or last night at the Festival’s opening ceremony. As part of the tribute this week, the festival screened a previously unreleased documentary by Amine Mesta on Douglas titled Michael Douglas, The Prodigal Son on the festival site for two days. The doc was produced by Folamour and will be broadcast on Arte.

The doc’s synopsis reads: “This special documentary shows us how Michael, an actor, and producer like his father Kirk, had to embrace their resemblance throughout his remarkable career in order to assert his difference. The time to learn how to become Michael when your name is Douglas.”

During the masterclass, Douglas described the doc as “very well made” and “very interesting.”

“She got some very interesting interviews that I enjoyed especially from people earlier in my career. From maybe when I was a little more, shall we say, aggressive,” Douglas said speaking of the doc and director Mesta.

Douglas ended the session by telling the audience that he plans to take some time away from the industry.

“I’m on a break. I’m looking forward to taking a good break,” he said.  “Right now, I want to focus on my public service issues.”

Cannes runs May 16 — May 27.

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