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Solitary Man

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

Story : A car magnate watches his personal and professional life hit the skids because of his business and romantic indiscretions.

Opens today May 21, 2010 | Runtime:1 hr. 30 min.

 

Interview with Actor Michael Douglas

 

Q: SO THIS WAS GOING TO COME OUT PRETTY MUCH THE SAME TIME AS 'WALL STREET 2' –

(Michael Douglas): No, it's not. It's not.

Q: NOW 'WALL STREET 2' IS COMING OUT IN DECEMBER BUT WASN'T IT ORIGINALLY PLANNED THAT THEY WERE BOTH GOING TO HIT EARLIER?

(Michael Douglas): Well, we were going to come out pretty much when we're coming out. 'Solitary Man'. 'Wall Street' got pushed to December.

Q: DO YOU SEE GORDON GEKKO AND BEN AS RELATED, COUSIN CHARACTERS IN A WAY?

(Michael Douglas): I was arguing the difference before I heard my writer/director make the comparison. Their urban New York guys. Both of them came from Long Island. One's world is a little bigger, a little bigger stage. Gordon and the size of that. Ben is probably a little bit more of a little fish in a big pond.

Q: HE'S VERY SELF-DESTRUCTIVE. DO YOU THINK THAT'S A PANIC THAT HIS LIFE IS ENDING, HIS MIDLIFE CRISIS AND WANTS TO LOOK AT EVERYTHING VERY CYNICALLY?

(Michael Douglas): No. I think it's a third act and a mortality issue. He's running on empty. He's living for the moment, thinking of his life. There's a certain desperation but he's a car dealer and so he's a motor-mouth and doesn't necessarily think about what he's saying or really the repercussions of his actions. Then I think this situation sobers him up.

Q: YOU EMBODY THESE CHARACTERS SO WELL. WHAT'S YOUR PROCESS FOR MAKING A CHARACTER FEEL SO ORGANIC?

(Michael Douglas): Well, without blowing smoke up Mr. Brian Koppleman's butt, it doesn't hurt that you've got a really good screenplay. Steven Soderbergh who works with David Levien and Brian Koppleman first introduced me to this project. I read it through just once and said, "This is great writing, wonderful. This is a good chance."

So I think I just really always go with the script and don't worry so much about the part. I mean sometimes you get a really good part like this but if you think it's a good story, also the unpredictability. I think if you're going to do these kinds of characters you really have to be unsure of where you're going as opposed to most movies where you can kind of guess the ending.

Q: DO YOU THINK THE CHARACTER MIRRORS WHAT'S GOING ON IN SOCIETY TODAY, MEN IN HIGH POSITIONS IN A DOWNWARD SPIRAL?

(Michael Douglas): That's a good question. Selfishly, I sort of think about the film and the project rather than that. That's almost like your job, to give it some resonance as to how it reflects. I think that we all read the papers and keep in touch with what's going on and it probably strikes us.

I know that Brian has talked about how he saw this character. He actually saw him in real life. I said, 'I don't see anyone in New York like this.' I'm not actually checking out guys in black pants and black jackets and then the next thing you know you go to restaurant and there's three of them, just the way he said. Black on black. Look in the mirror, check themselves in the reflection.

Q: DO YOU THINK THERE'S ADDED SYMPATHY FOR THIS CHARACTER BECAUSE HE DOESN'T REALLY HAVE THAT SEIZE THE DAY ATTITUDE WHEN HE FINDS THIS OUT FROM THE DOCTOR? THEN THAT CHANGES BECAUSE HE DOESN'T KNOW IF HE'S GOING TO BE AROUND.

(Michael Douglas): Well, that's a good excuse for part of the screenplay, to possibly get away with this behavior and to spend close to two hours with this guy as your protagonist without wanting to let him have it. I think that was a good device that Brian came up in the screenplay.

Q: YOUR FATHER WAS FAMOUS FOR PLAYING AN UNLIKABLE, CYNICAL KIND OF GUY. YOU HAVEN'T DONE THAT MANY EXCEPT FOR 'FALLING DOWN' –

(Michael Douglas): 'Wall Street'. My dad did the sensitive young man for about six or seven pictures before he did a movie called 'Champion' which he got nominated for where he played a nasty in 1950. Probably other than 'Romancing', the scoundrel, I had essentially the same thing until 'Wall Street' and then all of a sudden I'm playing these darker, edgier guys.

The fun part of this one was the tragedy/comedy and I thought that it went really well and that both Brian and David did just a great job of kind of keeping that balance. I was just so happy to see Imogen Poots who played that poor young lady. I thought that it was interesting that we could not find a sophisticated New Yorker.

Q: HOW DID YOU FEEL ON THE DAYS YOU WERE SHOOTING THOSE COLLEGE KEGGER SCENES? DID YOU FEEL LIKE ONE OF THE GUYS?

(Michael Douglas): I love all the college stuff, the moment after they have the fight and goes up to Jesse Eisenberg, to the dorm room where he puts on that t-shirt. The whole fish out of water element, the kegger party was fun, too, watching them get shutdown. It was a great scene.

When I saw the picture I was so honored because the things is one of the scenes there, with the simplicity of how they shot it, how they directed it allowing that one long dollying shot where I'm telling Jesse the ways of life. I couldn't believe it. It's so nice to see directors to trust actors and not feel a necessity to show their wares or this or that. It takes a great maturity.

Q: WELL, BRIAN SAID THAT YOU NAILED THAT IN THREE TAKES, WHILE THEY WERE PUSHING WHICH MEANT THAT THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO CUTAWAY AT ALL, THAT THERE ARE VERY ACTORS WHO COULD DO THAT.

(Michael Douglas): Well, listeners; Jesse Eisenberg is one of the best listeners. They always talk about your acting, but it's also listening. That's something that my father used to talk about. He's great, just great.

Q: WHAT IS IT ABOUT DANNY DEVITO, HAVING WORKED TOGETHER ON A NUMBER OF FILMS, THAT YOU THINK BRINGS THE BEST OUT OF YOU AS AN ACTOR OR AS A PERSON? NEXT, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE STATE OF INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING VERSUS WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED?

(Michael Douglas): I'll answer the first part. I understand why actors like to work with each other over and over again. With Danny, this is the fourth picture. Making movies and acting is not a natural situation. There's cameras and lights and all of that. Then you add to that actors who have to meet each other and shake hands and this and that.

So, when you've got an old friend, a Simon and Garfunkel song, it wasn't a large part. He wasn't there very long but there's a comfort fact that makes it easier. I was again amazed with their sensitivity. It was almost the silences. The scene when I come to his house, it was the silences between them talking. With as fast as this picture moved it gave me a sense of two old friends that know each other.

Danny and I, we met each other in 1967. We were roommates in '69. I wish I'd done more with him. This is the first since 'War of the Roses'. But that was Brian and David's idea, really, thinking about who the guy was. They said Danny and I said, 'I'll call him and see if he can come in for a little bit.' It added like a good old robe that you wear. So I enjoyed that.

Q: HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT PREPARING FOR THE ROLE OF BEN?

(Michael Douglas): Well, I guess I'll use the example of when I was doing 'Fatal Attraction', someone told me early on that the camera can always tell when you're lying. The camera can always tell when you're lying. Oh, my God. So I used to act painfully. I would act in such pain. I remember starting 'Fatal Attraction' and there are two types of actors. One is building the character and putting a character on and then it just donned on me.

I said, "Wait a minute, we lie all the time. We lie everyday." So this all of a sudden came over me and it started with 'Fatal'. I said, 'Well, I could be lawyer.' So that's the question; rather than putting the makeup on it's about stripping it off. Wiping your face off, wiping it all off. It's just trying to get down to some kind of truth.

When you have something written as well this, I mean the character is there on the page for you. The rhythm is there. He's a car dealer and so you have that and you know the pace that you've got to get up to dialogue wise to make it work. So then if it's good it takes off by itself.

Q: WHAT WAS THE KEY ELEMENT THAT YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR FATHER TO STAY NOT JUST IN THIS BUSINESS BUT SUCCESSFULLY IN THIS BUSINESS?

(Michael Douglas): Well, I think it's stamina. Stamina and tenacity. My father, he likes to give a lot of advice. He says, 'Look, son, you do the best that you can. You do the best you can and then fuck it.'

Q: YOU'VE JUST UNFORTUNATELY BEEN IN THE HEADLINES WITH YOUR SON CAMERON. HOW IS HE DOING AND HOW HAS THAT AFFECTED YOU?

(Michael Douglas): He's doing as well as can be expected. He has been sentenced now so it's actually now a little bit of a relief. It's been a long year, dealing with it. Life goes on and hopefully he'll be a better person.

Q: RETURNING TO THE COMFORT FACTOR YOU MENTIONED EARLIER. YOU'RE GOING TO WORK AGAIN WITH STEPHEN SODERBERGH WHO'S OF COURSE PRODUCER ON THIS AND YOU MADE A GREAT PICTURE WITH HIM ON 'TRAFFIC'. WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT 'KNOCKOUT'?

(Michael Douglas): I don't know. Maybe we should go back to the girlfriend experience but we've got to get Stephen to stop watching television too much. I was there for a very short period of time but basically Stephen has discovered this Gina Carano who's an ultimate fighter. She's one of these ultimate fighters. She's quite attractive and I think in the spirit of a super action, Bruce Lee has a leading lady in a good story that he's built around but with action scenes that you don't cutaway from.

She gives as good as it takes. It's a little disturbing to see a lady get hit in the mouth right on camera and then come back. It was pretty good. I had a short stint in there with Antonio Banderas.

Q: WHEN IMOGEN'S CHARACTER REVEALS TO HIM ABOUT THEIR NIGHT TOGETHER, WHY DOESN'T BEN LASH OUT AT HER? WERE YOU SURPRISED WHEN YOU READ THAT IN THE SCRIPT, THAT HE DOES SOMETHING VERY UN-BEN LIKE?

(Michael Douglas): Well, she says that in front of her mother. I mean I don't know how –

Q: HE BEATS UP THE GUY OR GETS INTO A FIGHT IN THE COURTYARD WHEN HE GOES TO THE COLLEGE AND THEN HE DOESN'T REALLY HAVE ANY ...

(Michael Douglas): Well, that's before. That was before the incident, but what's to say? The cat is out of the bag. It's just a great moment. It takes the wind out of you. It sucks the air out of the room.

Q: DO YOU THINK HE'S USING SEX AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR EVERYTHING ELSE HE'S LOST IN HIS LIFE?

(Michael Douglas): Sure. I mean, that's a part of it. He's definitely medicating, whether it's sex or anything else, in one sense. But he's reaching out. He's drowning and trying to get out and isn't thinking straight. Mind you, I think they did the scene very well. I keep defending them. Imogen is a lovely young lady but the character is right there, too. It's not as if I'm hustling her.

Q: FROM A GUY'S PERSPECTIVE, HOW DOES IT FEEL TO PLAY THIS PART OF A MAN THAT'S HAVING SEX WITH A NINETEEN YEAR OLD AND THE AUDIENCE IS LIKE, 'YEAH, OF COURSE'?

(Michael Douglas): Well, a few of the ladies here probably don't feel quite the same. But that's the way that it goes. I enjoy provocative things, provoking or questionable, but the gay and lesbian movement killed Sharon Stone for portraying a lesbian as a murderer. There's always somebody or something. You really do it for ourselves. You hope that if it turns out good, the only joy – I do – is I figure that someone else there might like it. I really don't worry too much about that.

Q: IS THIS YOUR FIRST TIME WORKING WITH TWO DIRECTORS AT ONE TIME?

(Michael Douglas): No. It's my second time. They were brothers. I can't remember. It was good. I mean I was curious how it was going to be but I have to say that it wasn't good cop bad cop. Every once in a while they would come in with a suggestion, very good ones, I might add. They were very sweet and patient. There were times because of the schedule and everything that I might've been a little curt but they were cool about that. They just did a nice job.

Casting is really everything because if you cast a movie right, directors have so much else to do besides tell actors what to do. There are so many issues and problems and if you've cast it right you should be able to let it go and they're going to play it out and they might even surprise you. I have to say most of the time actors elevate things. They don't screw things up most of the time. It's a tribute to Brian's script. That's a part of why we got so many wonderful actors to come in on an ensemble type situation.

Q: YOU'VE DONE VERY FEW SEQUELS IN YOUR LONG CAREER. IS THERE ANY STORY OR CHARACTER THAT YOU'D LIKE TO REVISIT IF THE IDEAL CIRCUMSTANCES WERE THERE?

(Michael Douglas): No. I can't think of any. We're doing the 'Wall Street' one and I did it once before with 'Romancing the Stone 2'. I don't think so, unless it's a subject matter.

Q: NOW THAT CATHERINE ZETA-JONES HAS HAD SUCH A BIG HIT ON BROADWAY IT WOULD'VE BEEN NICE IF YOU WERE ACROSS THE STREET IN ANOTHER PLACE. ANY THOUGHTS?

(Michael Douglas): I had been exploring that but now, after watching Catherine work, I'm re-evaluating the situation. I don't think we're quite ready as a family unit to start up for next season and it looks like I'm going to do 'Liberace' with Stephen Soderbergh and Matt Damon in the early part of 2011.

Q: WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN NEW PROJECTS AND WHY DID YOU THINK IT WAS TIME TO REVISIT 'WALL STREET'?

(Michael Douglas): Well, I look for, really, a good piece of material. A movie, not a part. I look for, 'That's a movie that I'd like to see. That's a movie I'd like to be a part of.' Sometimes with this you get the great parts. With 'Wall Street', Charlie Sheen carried that movie the first time. Gordon Gekko is a great written villain but it was a small chunk of that whole film and it was well written. It came up.

They asked me. It was after '07 when it all happened, they asked me about the idea of doing a sequel and I thought that it sounded like an appropriate time. It was kind of interesting and I started thinking, 'Ah, that'd be cool.' We thought, 'Lets see, '86 or '87,' and we figured out with Oliver [Stone] that, 'Alright, he fought for appeals for about five years. '92. He went to jail for eight years. He gets out in 2001.

He can't trade anymore. So in '07/'08 he's got a book foreseeing what all happened.' So it just seemed appropriate. There was a little bit of pressure because it wasn't a simple entertainment, action kind of picture but I've seen it. I haven't seen the whole complete version but I saw it before they took out the last couple of minutes and it looked really good.

Q: HOW DID IT FEEL BEING BACK IN THOSE SHOES AGAIN?

(Michael Douglas): Well, they were very different shoes. Gordon has been in jail for eight years.

Q: AND WORKING WITH OLIVER AGAIN?

(Michael Douglas): Those are the same shoes. Same shoes. He's a very, very talented guy but he does test his actors and his idea for getting the best performance, I don't take it personally, but he tests you and he's really good and then the picture turned out good. You can't argue. Almost every picture he's done actors have given their best performance going back to Jimmy Woods in 'Salvador' and everybody.

End.