Before Jordan Belfort of ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’, there was always Gordon Gekko of ‘Wall Street’. Hollywood legend Michael Douglas has enriched the film industry with his versatile roles for over five decades and is still relevant as the industry is moving towards CGI and animation. He is known for many iconic roles and he has found a new audience as Dr Hank Pym in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In Goa, to receive the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement award at the closing ceremony of the 54th International Film Festival of India, he expressed his joy to be here with his family, wife Catherine-Zeta Jones and their son, Dylan, “Our family loves India. This is our fourth visit, the first three times were to the North and this time we have the honour, joy and pleasure to be here in Goa. I am grateful to IFFI to get this wonderful honour. I have the history of Satyajit Ray back in college in the 1960s taking a film class when I became aware of some of his works. The greatness of Ray is that he was not only a director, but also a writer, film editor, musician, all at the same time.” Michael will be joining the league of film visionaries like Martin Scorsese, Dilip Kumar, Bernardo Bertolucci and the most recent awardee Carlos Saura.
Known for his stellar performance in films like ‘Wall Street’, ‘Basic Instinct’, ‘The American President’, ‘Traffic’ and ‘Behind the Candelabra’, his most recent role was Dr Hank Pym in four Marvel Cinematic Universe films, ‘Ant Man’, ‘Ant Man and the Wasp’, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and ‘Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantamania’.
In ‘Avengers: Endgame’, the actor was digitally de-aged to look younger. “The de-aging and it goes along with the question of AI because it’s coming very fast. At that time, it is very weird as they put dots all over you. When you look at yourself in the mirror, it’s not a very pretty picture. You act and then they do it. It’s a little scary but it’s all part of what’s going on right now with AI. We are actually fighting a different record and all of a sudden, you have to protect your name and your likeness into perpetuity. The reason I did those films is because I had never done a CGI movie before and I wanted to see the experience because acting in CGI is very bizarre. There is nothing there and you have to pretend. It was a lovely experience but once is enough,” says Michael.
Catherine Zeta-Jones is also an Academy Award winner and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her film and humanitarian work. She was recently seen in the second-most watched English-language Netflix series, ‘Wednesday’ where she played the role of Morticia Addams.
Speaking about her role and association with director Tim Burton, she said, “When I had the call that Tim Burton, who I admire as a filmmaker forever, wanted to speak to me about a project, I answered the call and said ‘hi Tim, what do you want me to do and when do I start?’. As per what Michael was saying about the scripts, for me at that moment was, whatever he is doing, I know I want to be part of it. It happened to be one of the most iconic pop icon characters, Morticia Addams, in the show that was like so part of our subconscious for years but focusing on Wednesday. That experience was amazing and its success has been incredible. We just finished our writers’ strike which we are happy about, especially everybody who works in our industry in The States. The shoot has been delayed but we are going to be starting this spring and I’m so excited about getting back into that world. It’s his world but it’s such an amazing world to be in.” The series was renewed for a second season and the shoot will begin from April 2024.
Dressed in a smart jacket that was designed by artistes from Rajasthan, Michael mentions that as he is in India with his family, they will be attending a grand bash to celebrate Shailendra Singh’s 25 years in the industry, along with other Bollywood celebrities.