SUPERSTAR DOUGLAS’ ME TOO VERDICT
MICHAEL Douglas has said the Me Too movement has been “really constructive” but added he was disappointed by the criticism of Matt Damon for his comments on the subject.
Last year Douglas’ Behind the Candelabra co-star came under fire when he said that people should acknowledge the “spectrum of behaviour” when it comes to sexual misconduct, and commended Louis CK for confessing to the accusations against him.
Damon said: “We can work with that. What the hell else are you supposed to do?”
Douglas, 73, whose upcoming film Ant-Man And The Wasp is the first Marvel movie to give equal billing to a female superhero, told the Radio Times: “I must say, with this #MeToo political and social movement, there has been a groundswell of female employment. All power!
“There’s been an opening of the floodgates. Although I was disappointed to see the attacks on Matt Damon for basically saying there’s a difference between jaywalking and first-degree murder.
“There is a difference between saying something in a flirtatious way and raping someone. I think, now, people understand that there is some disparity in that area. It’s been a really constructive movement.”
Asked about whether he discussing the subject with his wife, Swansea-born star Catherine Zeta-Jones, he said: “She doesn’t seem to have had any major issues. She did a movie [Chicago] with Harvey Weinstein – she won an Oscar for it – and she had no issues with him.”
Douglas also spoke about the experience of having a child in prison after his son Cameron was released in 2016 after nearly seven years following a drug conviction.
He said: “My son’s struggle was a nightmare. It was stressful for all involved, very painful and difficult. I’m happy to say he’s in wonderful shape now. He’s been out of federal prison a year and a half and he’s actively pursuing his career.”
He added he found the experience of visiting his son an eye-opening insight into the prison system, saying: “There are a lot of private prisons: these great profit-making centres. But if you take the pharmaceutical industry, too, there are a lot of industries that are not taking our physical and mental health as their number one priority.”
The Fatal Attraction star also said surviving cancer has made him focus more on the future than the past.
Douglas announced that he had been diagnosed with the life-threatening illness in 2010 and was treated with an aggressive form of radiation and chemotherapy for five months.
He said the experience has made him “pretty positive about the past” and focus more on his immediate future.
He said: “We’ve all made our fair share of mistakes in anything, (but) I’ve got a pretty good track record.
“I’m looking now at about 50 years in the business and all of that. I like my track record; I mean the ones I said ‘no’ to, I didn’t make many mistakes, I was pretty right on those.
“As for the future, as a cancer survivor and somebody at this part in his career, you look pretty specifically as to how you want to conduct the next year of your life.
“You’re not quite back in that ‘be as it may, let it hit me’. You want to have direction.
“I choose when I want to work, when I want to spend time with my family, when I want to play golf. It’s all in perspective.”
Douglas, who plays Dr Hank Pym in Ant-Man And The Wasp, said he is “totally” surprised to be starring in blockbusters at this stage of his career.
He said: “After the first one, my son was 15 at the time and he’s an actor himself, and he was looking (at me) very seriously and he went ‘This could be good for your career’.
“I said ‘Oh thank you’. He said ‘You don’t understand, Dad, there is a whole new generation out there for you.”