In his long career,Michael Douglas has excelled at playing ethically-challenged men such as the cheating husband in Fatal Attraction and financier Gordon Gekko in Wall Street,which won him an Oscar. After a difficult 2009 dealing with his sons arrest and imprisonment on drug charges,which Douglas called very sad,very upsetting, the actor is back doing one thing he does best,playing a rogue in low-budget Solitary Man. It hit theaters across the United States last Friday. Douglas took some time to talk with Reuters about Solitary Man,and reprising the role of Gekko in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,which premiered at this months Cannes film festival and lands in U.S. theaters in September. What sort of film is Solitary Man?Its a tragic comedy,very unpredictable and you dont know if its going to be poignant or whether youll just laugh,and all that really appealed to me. Its basically about this guys mid-life crisis and how he deals with it. Plus,we have a great cast. Susan Sarandon plays my ex-wife,Mary-Louise Parker plays my girlfriend,Jenna Fischer is my daughter,and we have this wonderful new actress,Imogen Poots,as my girlfriends daughter. I think youre going to be hearing a lot about her. You play a car dealer who screws up both his business and marriage. What do you have in common with your character?Well,hes about my age,hes from New York where we live,and hes thinking about his mortality,so yeah. (Laughs) Beyond that,Im happily married and Im not in the car business,although that remains to be seen. Any surprises working with Susan Sarandon? Ive always wanted to work with her and every take she did was different. And shes still as attractive as ever. You play another character with ethical problems in the upcoming Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps sequel. Was it easy slipping back into the role of Gordon Gekko?It was interesting because he didnt have any of the trappings of the first film. Its set about six years after hes gotten out of jail and he cant trade (stocks),so its a different character and hes a lot more vulnerable and open. So I didnt have the security of just sliding into exactly the same character. Given the recent financial meltdown,the timing for the sequel seems perfect.Yes and no. I went through the same thing with The China Syndrome. Three Mile Island happened right after the opening,and everyone thought,thats so great for the movie. But what happens is that people think theyve already seen the movie on TV,with the news and so on. So Im actually relieved,what with all the Goldman Sachs stuff and the rest that its not coming out until later. Im hoping things will simmer down a bit by September. People love Gekko. What makes him so appealing?I dont know. Maybe its the rascal in me. I think you have to savour and enjoy playing villains,and the beauty about him is that he had no remorse. He was pure. And saying that 22 years later,with all the crises weve had,I think back to all those business school guys who used to come up to me,drunk out of their minds,going,Youre the man Gordon! Greed is good! Now theyre probably running a lot of the banks and investment companies,and that sort of mentality may still exist. I hear youre next playing Liberace. Thats quite a change of pace.I thought itd be a lot of fun. Steven Soderbergh told me about it ages ago,and when I saw the script it was really good,so Im excited. Did you ever meet Liberace?Once,briefly in Palm Springs at my fathers house. What a character,and he seemed comfortable in his own skin. Will it be easy channeling your own,inner flamboyant Liberace?(Laughs) I honestly dont know yet. Im mulling it all around. And Im taking piano lessons,so youll see me tinkling the ivory a bit. But its going to take serious work.
