The Gazette from Cedar Rapids, Iowa • 38

tl.jfl tl 8c The Cedar Rapids Gazette: fit, Dec. 18, 1987s i OUTfifABOUT njosfe Michael Douglas aims for ihe Oscar By Stephanie Mansfield The Washington Post fl EW YORK The cackle is Kirk, but I i I the face slightly flaccid and II genetically homogenized, a creamy, streamlined symmetry of second-generation matinee idol nose and mouth and chin definitely belongs to Michael. So too do the stylish Central Park West apartment, the homes in Westchester and Santa Barbara, the office in Los Angeles, the artifacts behind glass, the neatly stacked leather-bound books on the mantle. The phone rings. Michael Douglas walks across the muted antique silk Oriental rug in soft, black leather loafers, lavender shirt and tortoise-shell glasses, his brown hair correctly tousled, and picks up the receiver.

"Yeah, hi. Mmmhhm. Mmmhhmm. Look, can I call you back? Im in a meeting. Other movie stars might have said "interview.

But Douglas doesnt give interviews. He takes meetings. On a table is a prominent out-of-focus photograph of Douglas 31-year-old wife Diandra. Ask him about her whereabouts and he says, "Shes tied up. ASK HIM ABOUT filmmaking and he talks about ancillary rights, cassette revenues and grosses.

Inquire about his artistic standing among his peers and he talks about his resume. Ask him a particularly personal question and he grins and says with a trace of sheepish humor, "Its none of your business. The guy is all business. "Hes really a CEO, says one actor who knows him. "I dont think people have any concept of how busy he is.

Besides running his own production company with Michael Phillips (Mercury-Douglas Films), he publishes a magazine (LA Style), co-produced the television series "Starman, is putting together a mini-series on Cortez and Montezuma and is planning a second sequel to his monster box office hit "Romancing the Stone. The word on Douglas now 43 and starring in two of the years hottest films, "Fatal Attraction and the just-released "Wall Street and greed, the actor cracks) is that hes an unimpeachably nice guy. "He charms the pants off everybody, says "Fatal director Adrian Lyne. He is also, in the words of Lyne, "vulnerable, complicated and paranoid. Hes also loyal, well respected and hard-working if a little on the dull side.

"Boring, boring, boring, says one Hollywood producer. "I think the only news is how much he wants the Oscar. INDEED, HOLLYWOOD IS talking Best Actor nomination for his role as Gordon Gekko, the slimy, Boesky-esque corporate raider and inside trader. When people talk of "Wall Street, they talk of what Newsweek calls Douglas "screen-popping performance. "Suddenly, hes grown into this big, charismatic, confident performer, says actress Holland Taylor, who appeared in "Romancing the Stone and its sequel, "Jewel -of the Nile.

"Its really miraculous. Initially, director Oliver Stone had his doubts. He grilled Lyne for hours on Douglas. He was told by one studio executive that Douglas wasnt an actor, that hed be back in his trailer all day, romancing the phone. But something happened.

Michael Kirk Douglas, who charmed the pants off Kathleen Turner as the swashbuckling Jack Colton, decided he was an actor after all. He has shed, in the words of director Lyne, "his gloss of youth. "I always thought my 40s were going to be good for me, Douglas says. "I always thought I was physically going to grow into myself. I had a handful of friends and family who had known me back from college who have always been supportive and said, 'Dont let this producing distract you.

Youre gonna surprise a lot of people. And at least one person knew it all along. "Michael has a toughness in him thats he never shown on the screen, Kirk Douglas told an interviewer in 1980. Although most people regard Michael Douglas as Hollywood royalty his mother is actress Diana Dill his roots are more East Coast than Tinsel Town. He was bom in New Brunswick, N.J., in 1944.

Shortly after that, his parents moved to Hollywood. Five years later, the couple divorced and Michael and younger brother Joel moved back east with their mother and stepfather, theatrical producer William Darrid. "There was not a lot of anger, and I had a great stepfather who assumed a lot of the responsibilities, he says. "My father was secure enough to acknowledge his gratitude. To this day, my four parents (Kirk Douglas is now married to former film publicist Anne Buydens) get together every couple of weeks.

THE DARRID FAMILY lived in New York, and later in Westport, while Michael attended a string of private schools and spent holidays with his father. Douglas blossomed during the 1960s. He chose the University of California at Santa Barbara, lured by beaches and bikinis. He flunked out his freshman year, took an assortment of odd jobs, including film work, and then went back to college, majoring in drama. After graduation in 1968 (a missing vertebra kept him out of the service), he moved back to New York to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

Television work led to a part in his first feature, "Hail, Hero! in 1969. Other films "Adam at 6 A.M., "Summertree and television appearances followed. In 1972 he got his big break, starring in the series "The Streets of San Francisco with Karl Malden. He was living with actress Brenda Vaccaro at the time, and had already formed his own production company, buying the rights to "Cuckoos Nest from his father. After that first hit, he also produced and starred in "The China Syndrome, which coincided with the Three Mile Island disaster.

That gave Douglas a reputation as a video visionary. BEING SECOND-GENERATION Hollywood has given him an edge, he acknowledges, but he also is a pragmatist. He got into producing for a simple reason. "Youre not just sitting there waiting for the phone to ring. At least you can create work.

When the phone did ring, he answered, playing nice if innocuous roles in "Coma, "Its My Turn, "The Star Chamber and "Running. In 1985 he began to stretch a bit with Zach in "A Chorus Line. Then came the double whammy of 1987. Working for "Wall Street director Oliver Stone "was tough What he did for me, hes not a coddler. Hes not one to create an environment of a big support system.

His attitude is, Lemme see if you can cut it. And he was right. It was painful at first. Hes really a commander. He really controls everything.

Hollywood is talking Best Actor nomination for Michael Douglas for his role as Gordon Gekko, the slimy, Boesky-esque corporate raider and inside trader in Oliver Stones Wall Street." Douglas says he knew he would be a late bloomer, although he has been quoted as saying this for so many years its hard to take him seriously. He also says hes avoided playing parts like Gordon Gekko. Maybe because his father did them so well, because he was afraid of the inevitable comparisons. As Gekko, he at times seems to be mimicking Kirk Douglas. Maybe hes a Kirk Douglas for the 90s.

More refined, more mellow. Second generation. If Kirk is Scotch, Michael is mineral water. Kirk is dockworkers; Michael is Docksiders. The elder Douglas, surprisingly, has never won an Oscar.

Michael himself has never won one either, although his first production effort "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in 1975 snagged five Academy Awards. YES, AN ACTING OSCAR would be sweet. Especially after so many years of being considered a lightweight "You had your doubts, he says. "Id be a fool to say there werent a lot of times I wasnt (annoyed) at being somewhat dismissed. I think by making it look effortless.

He seems to have improved with age with the gray around the temples, the beginnings of a slight paunch, the crows feet. Every morning, he put on the Savile Row suit and the gold chain bracelet and the power suspenders and he slicked back his hair and he became Gordo. He prepared rigorously for the role, and surprised the cast and crew with his grit and diligence and mastery of the wordy, technical script. "I worked my (tail) off, he says now. This from a man who once bragged, "Actings play, producing is work.

"THE FIRST RESPONSIBILITY as a producer is to make the best movie. A lot of times in acting, you have to be selfish. Youre not necessarily thinking about whats best for the movie, youre thinking whats best for the part. As a producer, youre sublimating yourself to make your director and co-stars happy, not having them think youre on an ego trip. I think my acting suffered a little bit, not only being spread thin, but also bending over backwards in producing.

"I think Fatal Attraction was a major breakthrough for him, says Lyne. Not only did he take the part of a vulnerable loser, the director says, "but for the first time, he forgot his other hat. Or tned to. A control freak, Douglas couldnt resist giving his director friend opinions on camera angles and lighting..