HOLLYWOOD -- The self-proclaimed prince of darkness has put some light in his life by including Catherine Zeta-Jones in it. Michael Douglas has also added some substance to his movie portfolio with Wonder Boys, which will be in theatres next week.
The buzz about Wonder Boys comes from critics who have seen early screenings of the Curtis Hanson film. By his own admission, the actor-producer has changed from being a glum gus into a 55-year-old always-smiling charmer. He attributes the change to the presence in his life of 30-year-old Zeta-Jones, who is pregnant with his child.
Ironically, in Wonder Boys, Douglas plays a fifty-something novelist-professor who confronts personal and professional decisions after he gets his girlfriend pregnant.
"It is funny that it's all coming together now," says Douglas, a disarming but earnest chap. "There's the new movie, the new baby and the new start."
There are obstacles. Douglas has to divorce his first wife, Diandra, before he can marry Zeta-Jones, due to deliver their child in mid-summer. On the feature front, Wonder Boys might be a tough sell. The film, based on the Michael Chabon novel, is a little odd, sometimes obscure and plays against Douglas and his debonair image. In fact, the son of legendary actor Kirk Douglas is more down-and-out than dazzling.
"Oh, man," he says grimacing. "I know. But I knew what I was getting into, y'know. Putting on the 25 pounds, looking haggard. But it's a year later and I'm still eight pounds off reducing it."
He did keep his grotty pink bathrobe that his character wears, "to complete the retro stoned look," Douglas says chuckling.
Actually, retro stoned is an appropriate description of Wonder Boys.
When Douglas got Hanson, the L.A. Confidential director, involved, they handpicked the cast to suit the mood of the book. Both made sure the subversive tone and theme were maintained.
"Curtis and I loved the insanity of the book," recalls Douglas. "And being a child of the sixties, I realized there were those kinds of reverberations."
Actors Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr. and Katie Holmes seemed to comprehend that. Maguire especially captured the essence with his portrayal of a disenfranchised wannabe writer.
As thrilled as Maguire was to get the part, he was anxious and cautious about working with "a big star" like Douglas. That all changed the first day of shooting at the Pittsburgh location.
"Michael is a tone setter," reports Maguire. "He makes sure everybody is comfortable with what they're doing, or he doesn't want to proceed."
Hanson was even more appreciative of the Michael Douglas all-for-one spirit.
"It was always about the best thing for the film," says Hanson. "Michael had to go with a complete absence of vanity, and he did it willingly."
Adds the director: "A lot of actors complain that they never get anything of quality, but a lot of them don't want to look bad or take a pay cut to do them. I applaud Michael."
It's true, the least glamorous part in Wonder Boys is the Douglas role.
"I've watched too many actors," says Douglas, "so concerned with their images or so concerned with trying to make the best portrayal for them, that they ruin what the picture is about.
"I really have to tell you my favourite film of my dad's was Lonely Are The Brave, where he was a more vulnerable character than he had ever played."
Which reminds him of his career letdowns, doing a string of "well-dressed, well-coiffed, rich kind of urban characters" in A Perfect Murder and The Game.
Truth is Douglas had a sense that he was becoming a Michael Douglas cliche, so he was searching for something completely different. "I was actually looking for a romantic comedy," he reports, "but Wonder Boys is as close as I could get."
Besides, he has his own real-life romantic comedy going. "Yes," says Douglas, "I asked Catherine to marry me on the millennium. I mean, I know it's a date that I will never forget. So yeah, it's been really nice. And yes, I did misplace her engagement ring."
Douglas left it at a Swansea hotel when he was visiting Zeta-Jones' Welsh parents. Douglas recovered the ring, but not before the British tabloids had a field day with that and lots of other things associated with Douglas and Zeta-Jones.
"The British tabloid press like a good dig if they can get it," agrees Douglas. "They insist upon naming our names and then putting our ages in parenthesis right next to them."
What's a famous guy to do? How about set up a non-profit Web site -- www.michaeldouglas.com.
"All the money goes to a foundation," he says, "for issues that are important to me, particularly disarmament with the United Nations."
What you get is what Brit tabs want, pictures from their past, present and some more from their future.
"I figure it's worth thirty-nine bucks for a year," he says of the membership charge. "It also allows some spin control with all this stuff going around."
Like the baby's due date. Douglas smiles a no-comment response. Like wedding plans. He smiles again.
Like finding out what happened to the tattered robe he wore in Wonder Boys.
"Aah, the robe," says Douglas still grinning. "It will be auctioned off -- on the Web site."
The MICHAEL DOUGLAS Producer File
COMPANY: Douglas has scaled back his production company activity. Instead of 40 scripts and three on the go, Douglas has decided to produce only the picture he's acting in -- like maybe one or two a year.
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