THE MICHAEL DOUGLAS FAN
PAGE
NEWS ARCHIVES
Older news has been added to the Archives for faster and easier
reference. I will try to keep the main News page with "fresh" (the last 3
months) news.
Armani and Great Golf
3-20-99
Army Archerd, Variety
AS THE DAYS DWINDLE DOWN to a precious few, one of the busier locations in town is
Rodeo Drive — and specifically Armani, where glamorous gowns are being readied and
fitted for the nominees and presenters like Sophia Loren. But Armani is also dressing
participants for the weekend’s first Michael Douglas & Friends Celebrity Golf
Tourney to benefit the Motion Picture & TV Fund.
Douglas is flying in from the Pittsburgh “Wonder
Boys” location to head the tourney, which will be played Friday and Saturday and airs
April 11 on ABC. The players will don Armani-designed golfwear, from socks to caps,
trousers, sweaters, shirts, jackets, gloves and you-name-it. Plus outfits for their
caddies, and T-shirts emblazoned with an MPTV Fund pitch for 120 volunteers working the
crowds at the new Ocean Trails Golf Club. Barry Frediani of BevHills Armani put together
the golfers’ glamour threads, which arrived yesterday from Milan.
The golf players in addition to Douglas are Kevin
Costner, Andy Garcia, Jim Garner, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jack Nicholson, Chris O’Donnell,
Joe Pesci and Will Smith. Friday night, Universal Studios (serving, of course, their very
best of Seagram wines and spirits including Chivas Regal) hosts the golfers at a dinner by
chefs Roger Verge, Michel Blanchet and Patrick Healy. Since there’s a seven-year wait
list at the MPTV Country House on the Wasserman Campus, Douglas hopes to make this an
annual event (and TV show) and to hopefully raise $500,000 with the first one.
Latest Hollywood Script
Deals
3-18-99
Variety
HOLLYWOOD - Just a few days after selling his untitled, partial manuscript to
Warner Books, first-time novelist Howard Roughan has entered an option deal for the
property with Michael Douglas and October Films.
Under its first-look deal with Douglas' Furthur Films for
specialized fare, October brought in the project based on about 90 pages of Roughan's
novel (as well as an outline for the remainder of the book) -- a black social
comedy/thriller.
Smacking of Tom Wolfe's ``Bonfire of the Vanities,'' the
advertising executive's manuscript weaves a story of blackmail and murder among Gotham's
yuppie elite, while dissecting each of the soulless characters who make up the story.
"My Three Sons":
Douglas to Produce, Star
3-10-99
Variety
Michael Douglas will star in and produce a feature version of the 1960s sitcom ``My
Three Sons,'' which is on the fast track at New Line Cinema.
``My Three Sons,'' which aired from 1960 to 1972, is the story of a
successful widower named Steve Douglas, who raised three sons. He was aided first by their
lovable maternal grandfather, Bub, and then by the crusty Uncle Charley.
With Fred MacMurray in the lead role, ``My Three Sons'' ran for
five seasons on ABC before joining the CBS lineup. New Line is poised to hire a
screenwriter, and wants a script to be ready within 10 weeks so that shooting can begin as
soon as possible, said production chairman Sara Risher.
``We're going to make this a realistic look at a widowed man
raising his boys,'' Risher said. ``It won't be a silly comedy, but it'll be funny and have
some lighter moments.''
Douglas last starred in ``A Perfect Murder'' and ``The Game.'' He
will serve as a producer of ``My Three Sons'' via his Universal-based production entity,
Furthur Films.
Kirk Douglas Honored with
SAG Award
3-3-99
Though this isn't Michael Douglas news, I thought this deserved mention on the web
site since Michael is so close to his father. Screen Actors Guild President Richard
Masur today announced that Kirk Douglas has been selected as the 35th recipient of the
Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, an honor recognizing both his professional
career achievements and extraordinary humanitarian contributions.
USA Network Hosts Michael
Douglas Month
2-16-99
Starting today, the cable powerhouse USA Network will begin its "Michael
Douglas Month." For a schedule, check out the USA Network's web site.
Michael and Minnie
2-5-99
New York Post
Seen at the Los Angeles nightclub the Conga Room last weekend were Michael
Douglas and Minnie Driver. Yes, dancing. Yes, together. The trendy nightspot is
owned by Jimmy Smits and Jennifer Lopez.
Douglas Plays Golf for
Charity
1-16-99
Daily Variety
The day before Roddy McDowall died last October, Michael Douglas promised he'd
continue Roddy's commitment to the Motion Picture & TV Fund. Monday, Douglas confirmed
our story by announcing the first celeb Golf Tourney to benefit the MPTV Country House & Hospital. Michael
told me he expects to present a check exceeding $500,000 to Edie Wasserman on the 18th
hole of the new Ocean Trails Golf Course
in Palos Verdes March 20. The celeb event will air April 11 on ABC.
Douglas will take time off his ``Wonder Boys'' feature filming in Pittsburgh for the
event. In the picture, he plays a thrice-wed college prof who gets Frances McDormand, the
chancellor, pregnant. Douglas' son, Cameron, works on the pic as a production
assistant, having worked as his very first job at the MPTV Country Hospital -- continuing
the family tradition and that of the industry's, ``Taking care of our own.''
Douglas In Pennsylvania to
Film New Movie
1-13-99
AP Wire
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Movie director Curtis Hanson's next big thing had to be done in
Pittsburgh.
Michael Douglas and the ``L.A. Confidential'' director plan to begin production here next
month on a movie version of the novel ``Wonder Boys.'' The film also stars Robert Downey
Jr. and Frances McDormand.
Hanson is happy with Pittsburgh. ``The city has managed to escape the blight of that
horrible urban renewal that devastated and homogenized so many other cities,'' he said.
``And Pittsburgh ties into the theme of the movie, which deals with what happens when
someone has early success and the pressure that comes with it.''
The novel is the second from Michael Chabon, following ``The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.''
The University of Pittsburgh graduate used the city as the setting for both books.
Douglas Project Nears Final Talks
1-8-99
Daily Variety
VARIETY - Robert Downey Jr. is in final
talks to costar with Michael Douglas in Paramount’s adaptation of the Michael Chabon
novel “Wonder Boys,”
which “L.A. Confidential” helmer Curtis Hanson will begin directing this month.
Scott Rudin produces.
In the script by Steve Kloves, Douglas plays a writer and professor who’s way behind
on a deadline. Downey will play his book editor, who joins him for a week of misadventure
and introspection as he tries to get his author to finish the book.
U.N. Marking Human Rights Progress And Failures
12-11-98
Reuters
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations,
on the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, honors its
achievements Thursday and reminds the world that torture is torture in any language.
``It is a mirror that at once flatters us and shames us, that bears witness to a record of
progress for parts of humanity while revealing a history and reality of horrors for
others,'' U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said of the declaration.
He opens the daylong events with a video address to a gathering in Paris in honor of the
1948 signing of the declaration in the Palais de Chaillot three years after the end of a
savage world war.
Actors Michael Douglas, Vanessa Redgrave and Mia Farrow participate in several events,
including exhibitions on the rights of children and the world premiere of a documentary on
the declaration narrated by Harrison Ford. The day ends with a recital in the U.N. General
Assembly Hall by Luciano Pavarotti and Wynton Marsalis.
Douglas, Pavarotti and Italian journalist Anna Cataldi, who have been designated U.N.
peace messengers, also plan to give Annan ``children's passports'' quoting from the
declaration. UNESCO intends to distribute a million of the passports, designed by Cataldi,
to children around the world.
Michael Douglas
Makes Deal With October Films
11-16-98
Entertainment Wire
Michael Douglas' Furthur Films, which recently aligned with Universal Pictures, has
made a second deal with October Films for independent-oriented
projects. The first project the two entities will do together is ``One Night at
McCool's,'' a Stan Siedel script which Douglas and Allison Segan will produce at October
with Douglas possibly playing a role.
Douglas formed Furthur Films earlier this year with Segan, the former Mutual Film
executive who'll run the company from Los Angeles and produce films with the New
York-based Douglas.
Douglas is the second Universal-based talent brought into the October fold by
co-Presidents Scott Greenstein, John Schmidt, and Bingham Ray, who have a similar
arrangement with Jonathan Demme's Clinica Estetico and Jim Sheridan's Hell's Kitchen. The
synergy gives Douglas and Segan the opportunity to make a single stop for all the films
they want to make.
``October will provide a home for Michael and I to make more independent fare with newer
filmmakers,'' Segan said. ``They don't get bogged down in development the way studios do,
so you can find a gem of a script, and the next thing you know, you're budgeting and
looking for directors. The script for 'One Night at McCool's' had been around for a while,
but when it was sent to us, we just flipped for it and optioned it out of pocket. As soon
as we showed it to October, they picked it up right away. We're budgeting and are out to
directors.''
Segan described the film as a ``Rashomon''-like tale in which three men separately tell
the story of the woman who ruined their lives. ``It's the same night and the same woman,
but each tells the tale with their own revisionist history,'' she said. The film calls for
the kind of rapid-fire cameos that got good actors for short bursts in ``Pulp Fiction,''
and Douglas would like to play one of those roles if he can fit it into his schedule.
For Douglas, the October alliance allows him to revisit his producing origins. ``This
relationship provides me with the opportunity to return to my independent roots and
develop films again like 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' and 'China Syndrome,''' Douglas
said.
October Films co-prexy Greenstein said, ``We view this relationship as a cornerstone in
October's response to the rapidly dwindling amount of viable product available through the
traditional festival circuit ... He and Allison have brought us to the exact project you'd
hope would come out of the usual deal once. And we've only just gotten in business.''
With two outlets now for their projects, Furthur is beefing itself up. Segan said she and
Douglas are in the process of opening a Gotham creative office, and are near a decision on
naming a New York executive to run it.
``With Michael based there, as well as October, we're taking the opportunity to tap into
that marketplace and the publishing and theater industries,'' said Segan. ``It'll help
broaden our range.''
In addition to the deals with Furthur, Clinica Estetico, and Hell's Kitchen, October Films
has similar arrangements with Robert Duvall's Butchers Run Films, Stanley Tucci's First
Cold Press Productions, and Michael Stipe's Single Cell Productions. Currently in release
for October are Thomas Vinterberg's ``The Celebration,'' the Danish Entry for the Academy
Awards(TM), and the re-edit of Orson Welles' ``Touch of Evil.'' Opening at Christmas is
Anand Tucker's ``Hilary and Jackie,'' starring Academy Award-nominated actress Emily
Watson, which is based on the life of famed cellist Jacqueline du Pre.
Douglas to
Serve as "Master of Ceremonies" at Human Rights Watch Annual Celebration Dinner
11-6-98
Entertainment Wire
Michael Douglas will serve as Master of Ceremonies at the Human Rights Watch annual
dinner on November 18. The dinner will "honor international human rights
activists, celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
the 20th anniversary of the founding of Human Rights Watch. For more info on this
organization, visit the Human Rights
Watch web site.
Reporting On Michael Douglas' Love Life
11-5-98
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Douglas has a thing for journalists. After being seen out
and about with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in recent weeks, Douglas appeared to
be reviving a relationship with ABC's Elizabeth Vargas at the Monday premiere of
"Meet Joe Black," the new Brad Pitt-Anthony Hopkins film. Douglas told a New
York Daily News columnist that his report of a Douglas-Dowd relationship "got me in
so much trouble" with Vargas, who "graciously sidestepped the issue
entirely," the News said. Also on hand at the premiere were Pitt companion Jennifer
Aniston, Lauren Bacall, Ed Norton, Joe Pesci, Jimmy Buffett, Naomi Campbell and David
Spade.
Actor Michael Douglas Leads Candlelight Vigil
11-3-98
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Actor Michael Douglas led a candlelight vigil in the capital
urging the United States to pay all back dues to the United Nations, a move vetoed by the
president earlier this week after a bill linked the payments with abortion restrictions.
Douglas, named the U.N.'s Messenger of Peace in July, said he is constantly asked about
the United States' failure to pay its arrears to the United Nations when he is promoting
movies around the world.
"As an American, I am embarrassed and humiliated because I am not able to give them
an answer,'' Douglas told about 250 people gathered for the vigil at Lafayette Park,
across the street from the White House.
On Wednesday, President Clinton vetoed legislation that would have provided $926 million
in delinquent payments to the United Nations. The president, who has pressed Congress for
months to pay back the dues, said an unrelated anti-abortion restriction left him no
choice but to veto the measure.
The administration made backup plans this month to pay the bare minimum in dues, from
other accounts, to ensure the United States would not lose its General Assembly voting
rights. Similar vigils were scheduled to take place in more than 40 cities on the eve of
United Nations Day.
Douglas Honored at Spain's San Sebastian Film
Festival
10-27-98
CNN News
Actor Michael Douglas was honored at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain for his
achievements in film. For information on the 10-day festival, visit the San Sebastian Film Festival
web site.
Douglas, Streep Get a Life
10-9-98
Mr. Showbiz News
Perhaps that recent People magazine cover story on older actors pairing onscreen with much
much younger actresses has had an effect in Hollywood. Daily Variety reports that Michael
Douglas, 53, last seen conspiring to bump off nubile bride Gwyneth Paltrow in A Perfect
Murder, is set to star in and produce the Universal Pictures family drama Still Life, with
Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep, 49, committed to co-star.
The film centers on an on-the-outs couple who are forced to come to terms with their
relationship after their daughter dies, and they take in their grandchildren. Mimi Leder,
the woman behind Deep Impact and The Peacemaker, is on board to direct, although neither
she nor Streep have finalized their deals.
The trade says Still Life, written by Andrea King, will likely head into production in the
fall of 1999, which is the earliest all three principals can clear their schedules.
Douglas is Sued:
Lawsuit Update
10-7-98
Michael Douglas is getting hit where it hurts: in the wallet. According to published
reports, the Perfect Murder star is the target of a multi-million dollar personal injury
lawsuit filed by a New York golf caddy, who alleges that a ball hit by Douglas at a
Westchester country club caused him permanent injuries. In a statement issued Friday, the
actor denied the allegations and vowed to take legal action to protect his good name.
James Parker, in his suit filed Thursday in Manhattan Federal Court, claims he hasn't been
able to work since a fateful day in October 1997 when one of Douglas' shots—warning:
the following is not for the squeamish—hit him in the crotch and ruptured one of his
testicles, forcing him to have it removed.
"Having not seen the lawsuit, it is impossible to speak directly to he charges of
what has been claimed," Douglas said, adding that "in response to the news media
reports…I can only say that the charges made against me are completely false."
Douglas acknowledged that he was part of a foursome made up of two of his friends and man
named Mark Drach, whom he says he'd never met before. Douglas says it was Drach who made
the errant shot. In his lawsuit, Parker admits that Drach took responsibility for hitting
the ball, but claims it's part of a cover-up.
Parker alleges that he was walking ahead of the foursome when Douglas hit a ball without
yelling "Fore!" The caddy says he turned around when he heard the swing, and
that was when he was hit. Parker, who is black, claims that Douglas then handed him about
$60 and allegedly muttered a racial slur. Douglas adamantly denies this. "At no time
did I or anybody in my presence make any racial slurs, and the suggestions that it was I
who hit the ball and uttered the comment claimed is totally false and slanderous and will
force me take the necessary legal action to protect my name." No word on what legal
action Douglas plans to take.
Michael Gives Big Check to
UN's FAO
10-3-98
VENICE, Italy, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Hollywood star Michael Douglas donated $10,000 to the
U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Tuesday during a visit to the Venice
film festival, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
ANSA said the actor, who has sent autograph hunters into a frenzy since arriving in
Venice, handed over the cheque to FAO officials at the agency's stand at the festival. The
Rome-based FAO has involved sporting and entertainment stars in its ``Food for All''
campaign, designed to halve the number of hungry people in the world by 2015.
Douglas is one of Hollywood's biggest names but he told reporters last week his worth was
falling. Asked by one journalist how he invested his ``mountain of money,'' Douglas
retorted with a smile: ``My mountain of money has been very small this last year since I
have become divorced.''
Douglas Joins Fight Against Weapons
10-2-98
ASSOCIATED PRESS--Princess Diana put the campaign to ban anti-personnel land mines in the
world spotlight. Now, actor and producer Michael Douglas hopes to become the celebrity
face of a new campaign to control the spread of light weapons.
Norway and Canada, which helped launch the global drive for a land mine treaty, are trying
to duplicate their success by spearheading a crusade to curb far more deadly small arms.
The United Nations, voluntary organizations and the United States and other governments
are joining the campaign. And on Friday Douglas joined in, making his first speech in his
new role as a United Nations Messenger of Peace on the dangers of the global proliferation
of small arms.
These arms - assault rifles, machine guns, pistols and grenade-launchers - are the weapons
of choice in dozens of conflicts from the Congo to Kosovo. They kill millions of innocent
civilians, especially children. And after the fighting ends, they often wind up in the
hands of criminals, smugglers and terrorists.
``The sad fact is that while the major armies of the world are disarming, civilians are
rearming,'' Douglas said in a luncheon speech during a daylong seminar at the United
Nations. ``If these weapons are not properly controlled, peace will become obsolete and so
will humanity.''
To those who blame Hollywood for being part of the problem by glorifying violence, ``I
would ask them to remember that the violence Hollywood exports is fictional, while the
tens of billions of dollars in small arms that various countries export is a reality.''
Recalling that he had been awakened to the dangers of small arms when John Lennon was
fatally shot in the back five times in 1980, Douglas said he brought to the campaign his
success in the motion picture business.
``I want to dedicate that fame to your noble purpose,'' he said. ``I hope we can work
together to turn our weapons of death and destruction into the plowshares that can provide
food where there is famine, and peace where there is strife.''
Friends Gather 'Round Stricken McDowall
9-30-98
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Michael Douglas talked to Roddy McDowall and ``reassured him'' that
he (Michael) would continue the commitment that Roddy has had over the years to the Motion
Picture & TV Home and Hospital.
Roddy (suffering from terminal cancer) has been receiving countless calls of encouragement
plus visits from friends such as Lauren Bacall, who flew out from N.Y. to see him, as did
Dominick Dunne. Others who have been over to see him: Elizabeth Taylor who had dinner at
his house, Kate Burton, Joan and George Axelrod, Tuesday Weld, Anne (Mrs. Kirk) Douglas
and Edie (Mrs. Lew) Wasserman.
Douglas is continuing his U.N. work on international disarmament of nuclear weapons -- and
small arms as well. He met with Canada's prime minister Tuesday, and tells me he'd ``like
to have a talk with'' Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Assn. NRA reps were
on hand at the U.N. last week when Douglas made his speech about small arms.
Douglas Urges Drive to Curb Small Weapons
9-30-98
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Actor Michael Douglas, who has pulled the trigger in a host of
violent movies, joined forces with the United Nations Friday to appeal for a worldwide
drive to stop the spread of small arms.
``The violence Hollywood exports is fictional, while the tens of billions of dollars that
various countries export are real,'' Douglas told a U.N.-backed conference organized by
Canada, Norway and the British American Security Information Council.
``Small arms ring up billions of dollars in sales every year, and half of those sales are
for illegal weapons,'' he said.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently appointed the film star a ``Messenger of
Peace'' to promote a campaign to control the proliferation of handguns and light weapons.
Douglas, whose screen hits include such thrillers as ``Basic Instinct'' and ``Fatal
Attraction,'' rejected criticism of the U.S. film industry for glorifying violence.
``It's time we stopped making Hollywood the scapegoat for a problem that is rooted
elsewhere,'' he said, arguing that movies could educate the public to real-life dangers.
In the realm of small arms control, the United States did not set a good example, Douglas
said. He reeled off statistics showing that guns killed 40,000 Americans a year, including
10 children a day.
He said Russian-designed Kalashnikov assault rifles were available cheaply all over the
world.
``An AK-47 (Kalashnikov) can be purchased for a few dollars in Albania. It can be
exchanged for a chicken in Uganda. It can be bought for a sack of corn in Mozambique. It
can be bartered for a loaf of bread in Chechnya,'' he said.
Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy made his own appeal for greater regulation of the
small arms trade, in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.
``Small arms and light military weapons -- cheap and easy to transport, smuggle or hide --
have become the tools of choice for drug smugglers, terrorists and criminals,'' he said.
While there were no easy solutions or shortcuts, ``we cannot afford to shrink from facing
such a devastating threat to our security,'' he said.
Canada played a leading role in promoting an international convention to outlaw
anti-personnel land mines signed last December in Ottawa. Twenty-one nations, including
the United States, the world's biggest arms exporter, met in Norway in July to discuss
proposals to control legal and illicit small arms transfers. Officials of major
arms-exporting nations privately described the initiative as naive, arguing that the way
to prevent armed conflicts is by seeking political solutions rather than outlawing guns.
Michael Douglas' "L.A. Confidential"?
9-10-98
NEW YORK (Variety) - Since directing the critically acclaimed noir drama"L.A.
Confidential," every studio has been vying to get Curtis Hanson's next film. The
victor might well be Paramount, which is negotiating to have Hanson direct Michael Douglas
in "The Wonder Boys," an adaptation of a Michael Chabon novel. Hanson has also
been in serious talks about another project, "Family Man" starring Nicolas Cage
for Universal. But Cage is booked to star for Martin Scorsese in "Bringing out the
Dead." No deal has yet been set. In "The Wonder Boys," Douglas will play
the author of a wildly successful novel who's trying to write another but is feeling the
crushing weight of the first success and having trouble getting started.
Douglas Attends Venice Film Festival
8-28-98
VENICE, Italy (AP) - Steven Spielberg was there. Tom Hanks was there. But the spotlight at
Thursday's opening of the Venice Film Festival was on a celebrity who wasn't - Sophia
Loren, kept away by illness.
The competition for Golden Lion award starts Friday and features 19 movies, including Abel
Ferrara's ``New Rose Hotel,'' Emir Kusturica's ``Black Cat, White Cat,'' and ``Rounders,''
featuring Matt Damon.
Although less glitzy than Cannes, Venice attracts its share of stars.Among those expected
were Sean Penn, George Clooney, Michael Douglas, Denzel Washington, Jim Carrey, Ed Harris,
James Caan and Kenneth Branagh.The 55th edition of the festival runs through Sept. 13.
Michael Douglas Exits "U-571"
7/07/98
08:27 AM ET: PRAGUE (Variety) - Actor Michael Douglas says he has decided to give up his
role in Jonathan Mostow's upcoming submarine action film ``U-571.''
His departure from the movie was occasioned by ``scheduling differences after the film was
pushed back too far for my comfort,'' Douglas said.
He added that his withdrawal opens up his schedule for ``several possibilities,''
including a ``Romancing the Stone'' sequel, which he said was ``about two weeks away from
delivery of a new script.''
Douglas casually dropped the news of his exit from ''U-571''during a private interview one
day ahead of his scheduled press conference at the 33rd Karlovy Vary International Film
Festival, where he was honored Friday night.
In the next day's press briefing, Douglas mentioned that he was looking to shoot a film
with father, Kirk Douglas, ``some time next year.''
The Archives grew to be enormous, so I've made
a SECOND archive page. Click here to view the
older news stories. For the most recent Michael Douglas news, check out the News
page.