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Show Wil MICHAEL DOUGLAS 5 tare Ve E WON AN OSCAR Catherine ZetaJones since 2006; one son, Dylan, 2 Television: Includes The Streets of San Francisc Films: Running, 1979; Romancing the Stone, 1984 The Jewel of the Nile, 1985; Fatal Attraction, 1987; Wall Street, 1987; Black Rain, 1989; The War of the Roses, 1989;Basic Instinct, 1992; Disclosure, 1994; The American President, as Best Actorforhis memorablyetched portrait of "80s Wall Street greedas the seductively charming but amoral Gor: don Gekko. But now actor and producer Michael Douglas wason the horn from Europe telling me about his latest film, /t Runs in the Family, dueto open April 2. And“family” is the operative word. This is the first time Michael and his dad, Kirk, ever worked together onaflick. It also bringstogether his mother, actress Diana Douglas Darrid, and his 24-year-old son, Cam: eron,ina well-spuntale of a dys- functional New York family Whenwespoke, Douglas and his gorgeous wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones—freshoff her triumphin the film Chicago and expectingtheir secondchild. werevisiting her extendedfam ily in Swansea, Wales. Besides getting the whole Douglas family off the unem 1995; The ploymentroles, I wisecracked. Game, 1997; Wonder Boys what suggestedthis new movie 2000; Traffic “My father andI hadbeentalk 2000; Don't Say a Word, ing for years about doing a proj 200%; it Runs ect together,” said Douglas. “My inthe Family, mother and Kirk have beendi 2003, vorcedfor 50 years, but evenafPARADE; grooming by H er by Hugo Bo ter they remarried,they andtheir spouses got along, so we got Dianainvolved. Then we thought about Cameron asthe son. He’d never acted, so he studied for three months, and thenhe read for us. Dad andI were the nervous ones. We were worried. The kid wasterrific! At 24, I never could haveacted with my dad. I would have been overwhelmed. Douglas sketchedfor me the key pointsof his career on both sidesof the camera: “Cuckoo's Nest and China Syndrome helped define meas a person,” he said, “and gave me success aS a producer. As anactor, Fatal Bumble NY/celestineagency. Michael Bouglas puts three generations on the payroll in his ew film, /f Runs in the Family—tather Kirk, mother Diana and son Cameron 8 April 25, Attraction and Wall Street— back to back—gave me that samekind ofsuccess.” Talking about Catherine and her hit movie Chicago, Michael said, “I'm soproudof her. You know, actingis like lying: You can get away with sheertheft But song and dance—youcan’t fake it. you can’t hide.” Then he added, “When she was shootingit, | stayed home and ‘played mom. th rita meme) | For more Douglas, visit www. parade.com and click on “in Step With.” i And how was Michael Douglas getting along with his in-laws in Wales? “You know that my motheris British,” he told me, “so at least half of meis on the right island. The Welsh are wonderful people. Catherine speaks some Welsh.” Waies is famed for its choirs. Had he heard them perform? “Yes,” Michael said. “In Wales, they all sing Catherine's dad is the local karaoke king. He was Elvis Presley in another life,” Betore his trip to Wales, Dougias wasin wartorn Sierra Leone on aUN assignment as a “messenger of peace.” He'd also been there to make a documentary about the tragedy of child soldiers, “These kids were a story crying out to be told," he said. | asked Michael if he thought he'd be most remembered tor his Academy Award as Wall Street's Gordon Gekko. “Gekko was a very bad guy,” he replied, “Yeah,”| said, “but charming in a reptilian way.” Michael agreed: “For an actor, to play good villains—now that's the dream,” PAGE 24 APRIL 6, 2003 PARADE MAGAZINE |