NEW YORK -- Michael Douglas is feeling so good about being so bad.

In the thriller A Perfect Murder (opening June 5), Douglas plays a man who discovers his wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) is having an affair. Instead of confronting his wife, he hires the lover (Viggo Mortensen) to murder her.

"It's another of my prince of darkness roles," admits Douglas, alluding to his edgy performances in Wall Street and The Game.

"For an actor, it's great fun to play one of these hungry white sharks. Audiences love to hate them. I wanted my performance in Murder to be a bit theatrical."

Douglas says he has never had any qualms about playing unlikable characters.

"That's why I give Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct) and Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction) such credit for their brave career choices."

It is not his career, but his life, that has demanded bravery from Douglas these past five years.

He lost his personal assistant of nearly 20 years to a sudden heart attack. His father, Kirk Douglas, is slowly recovering from a stroke; his brother, Eric, continues to have headline-making substance-abuse problems; and his own 20-year marriage to Diandra Douglas ended in divorce.

"I'm single and living in New York. It's great. I have the same apartment I've always had. I just bought the one next to it, knocked down some walls and made it twice as big."

Douglas says people think of him as a Hollywood brat but explains he "grew up in New York with my mom from the time I was five.

"When my parents divorced, she moved to New York with us, so I know and love this city."

He says being single has made him "a bit irresponsible but also a bit reflective. My son Cameron is 20. Sharing an apartment with my kid as a pair of swinging singles is not where I expected to be at 53."

Douglas has been dating ABC news reporter Elizabeth Vargas, but he insists it is not a serious relationship.

"It's difficult for me to meet women because my crowd is much older. I know that for some of the young women I do meet, a relationship with me can be envisioned as a benefit to their career."

He stops, then laughs, adding: "But what the heck, as long as we're having some fun."

In the past decade, Douglas has been hearing how much he looks and acts like his dad.

"Even dad and I can see those similarities.

"When I was young, I avoided dipping into (our gene pool) for fear I would be criticized. Now I feel confident enough in my own abilities to tap into it if it benefits the character."


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