Michael Douglas reveals the stories his publicist wished he had left out of his memoir G trends

“When it’s all over, all we have left are memories,” said the two-time Oscar winner Michael Douglas tells Collider’s Steve Weintraub while discussing his new memoir, A hell of a ride. The 352-page report is an honest reflection of his life as the son of a Hollywood star and filmmaker Kirk Douglas to his own meteoric rise to global stardom and everything that happened in between.

A hell of a ride is a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes stories from the sets of iconic films like One flew over the cuckoo’s nest, Fatal attraction, Basic instinctand more. It is also a deeply personal look at Douglas’ struggles with alcohol and drugs, his battle with Stage IV cancer, a turbulent first marriage, subsequent affairs and love story Catherine Zeta Jones This was the beginning of a new chapter in his life.

While speaking with Weintraub, Douglas discusses why he decided to revisit the past, reach out to “old friends” and work with someone to get organized his life chronologically through his films. He also teases the book’s more scandalous moments, why certain films had to be left on the cutting room floor, what it was like growing up as the son of Kirk Douglas, and how his relationship with Zeta-Jones came at just the right time. Don’t miss the full conversation in the video above. A transcript can be found below.

Michael Douglas explains why he wrote his memoirs now

“All we have are memories.”

Image via INSTARimages.com

COLLIDER: I’ve spoken to you a few times. It’s always a thrill. I’m a big fan of your work. Thank you for all your years of work in filmmaking and television.

MICHAEL DOUGLAS: And thank you for your enjoyment of cinema.

This is a question I’ve been asking everyone lately and it’s going to be part of a supercut: Where do you like to sit in a movie theater?

DOUGLAS: I like to sit a third of the way back, on one of the sides, but on the aisle.

Thank you very much. So I read that you regret not keeping a diary. I feel the same way. I wish I had kept a diary. But I’m just wondering how good your memory is and how many times have you had to talk to other people to remember certain things that happened?

DOUGLAS: That’s a good question, Steve. My memory isn’t good, and one of the real reasons I wrote this book was to get all that information back. One of the first steps I took was to hire someone to just put all sorts of information chronologically into a formal order – all the information, the movies, other things – so I could just help me remember it and sort out the years in which it all happened.

Then when we started working and reaching out to old friends and so on, it was a joy and a real satisfaction to fill my brain again with old memories that I had forgotten and lost. That was the real pleasure of this book, because when it’s all over, All we have are memoriesand it depends on how much you have.

So I feel very lucky. It was one of those perks of this career, this business that you’re in, that you have movies and everything that reminds you of different parts of your life.

Michael Douglas on the legacy of his father Kirk Douglas

He also reveals which stories his publicist would have preferred to leave out.

Image via Universal Pictures

What’s the one story in the book that your publicist probably wished wasn’t in it?

DOUGLAS: (laughs) Well, I don’t really want to say because I would give away a story, but probably a few. One of them refers to a gift my father gave me one Christmas: some nice leather suitcases, a tie and leather suitcases, and what I did with them. And another was when I fell in love with Catherine (Zeta-Jones) and we decided to be exclusive. Like many women, I had to call that night to tell them we had to break up because I had met someone.

You have lived a very blessed life.

DOUGLAS: I did. I have. One of my other possible titles was One lucky bastard. I mean, I completely agree with you. I was so blessed, so lucky, but that title didn’t bring me any benefit from the hard work I had done on my own.

Her father was a Hollywood icon. At what point in your life did you feel like you were Michael Douglas and not the son of Kirk Douglas?

DOUGLAS: Well, I always have, I mean always I felt like I was Kirk Douglas’ son. Children are generally evil. The only advantage children had over me from a young age was that they knew who my father was, which allowed them to make certain assumptions about the person I was. For example: “You must be a snobby, spoiled, rich boy. Silver spoon in your mouth,” or whatever it may be. So I was always very aware of who my father was because everyone else reminded me of it.

What do you think your father would think of the book?

DOUGLAS: I think he probably would have said the same thing he said to me after I won the Oscar Wall Street. He said, “Boy, if I had known you were going to be so successful, I would have been nicer to you.” (Laughs)

This ’80s sequel had too many wild stories to leave out

Douglas also explains why Wonder Boys, The gameAnd Black rain didn’t make it.

Image via 20th Century Studios

You write extensively about 12 of your films in the book, and I’m just curious how close you came to writing about them The game And Wonder Boys or something else in detail?

DOUGLAS: We had problems with that, and Black rain. These are exactly the other three we thought. But in order to keep a book under 500 pages, we had to make some editorial decisions. And I love Wonder Boys. I’m glad you mentioned it. Not many people are aware of it, but it was one hell of a picture.

It’s fantastic.

DOUGLAS: But there were three. And I love Black rain And The gamebut there were many others. I mean, we could have gotten out The Jewel of the Nileexcept that there were so many extraordinary situations in this film, the least of which was that after the first film, Kathleen Turner made this film under the pressure of the lawsuit because I had a contract with her for the second film. And then there were people who died in a plane crash, and we definitely had to include that.

This movie has the craziest stories and I don’t think people are ready for the craziness of this movie. Was there anything you wrote that you really debated that you didn’t include just because it was so honest or because it involved someone else? What was on your mind when you said, “Maybe that’s not in the book?”

DOUGLAS: There were one or two names of women who were important in my life at times and who were talked about publicly. That was the only reason I really included her, because it was like a known secret. But I know they desire their privacy and I have discussed it. And a few other illegal activities we weren’t sure about.

Somehow, like a lot of the characters I play, the guy in that gray area, trying to do the right thing or maybe doing the right thing, I always felt kind of morally on the fringes. So I felt like there was some transparency in it, and the audience seemed to know that even if I failed, my intentions were good.

“I started to slow down…”

Image via Avalon/Starface Photo/Cover Images

You write about your wife Catherine, and I’m just curious. Do you think things would have turned out the same way if you had met her earlier in your life, or is it when you saw and met her in your life that that’s where the magic had to happen?

DOUGLAS: That’s a very good question, Steve. I think it made a big difference when I met her and the fact that we had an age difference. When I met Catherine, I started to slow down – not completely, but starting to – and so she was able to miss the really intense period when I was both producing so many films And Acting to finance films. This was during my first marriage, which had suffered from all this activity and the fact that my oldest son had drug problems.

I don’t think you can balance your personal life and your career. I think you have to focus on your career and what’s happening or focus more on your personal life. So that’s where I was.

A hell of a ride Is now available for purchase.

Release date

March 30, 1984

Duration

106 minutes

writer

Diane Thomas