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Toronto `terrific' as itself, Douglas says
City has presence in political thriller The Sentinel
Actor, Zeta-Jones glad to relinquish celeb spotlight
Apr. 15, 2006. 01:00 AM
JOHN HISCOCK
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
BEVERLY HILLS—Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones have spent so much time in Toronto that they know the city almost as well as they know their way around Hollywood.
They set up home in Toronto while Zeta-Jones filmed Chicago and again when Douglas worked on Don't Say a Word, The In-Laws and, last summer, the action thriller The Sentinel, which reaches theatres this coming Friday.
"Toronto's been our second home for a long time," said Douglas in an interview. "When we were filming The Sentinel we brought the kids with us and we rented the same house we were in the previous time, so it was like coming home again."
With this last film, though, there was a major difference. "Toronto doubles very well for Washington, D.C. and a lot of other cities, but this is one of the few times Toronto plays Toronto in a movie," said Douglas, who is also one of the movie's producers. "It looks terrific."
The climax to The Sentinel, about a mole in the U.S. Secret Service who is plotting to assassinate the president, takes place at a G8 summit unfolding in Toronto, with scenes filmed at City Hall. There, Secret Service agents played by Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland and Eva Longoria shoot it out with the would-be assassins.
"It's unpredictable, topical and has a few twists and turns to it," says Douglas. "It's fascinating to learn about the Secret Service's inner workings. I liked the idea behind The Sentinel because in an era of fear and paranoia, the notion of an unseen enemy is credible — that's the film's big `what if?'"
While they were in Eastern Canada, Douglas and his wife did some property shopping — they bought what he calls "a small farm" on Lac Desmarais in the Laurentians, near Mont Tremblant, Que. "It's not far from Bermuda and it is an ideal place to get away to and do some skiing," he said.
The Sentinel marks 61-year-old Douglas's return to the screen after a three-year break, during which he stayed mainly at the family home in Bermuda with the couple's children, Dylan, 5 and Carys, 3. He also spent some time on his philanthropic work for the United Nations, meeting heads of state and talking about disarmament, and filmed a documentary about child soldiers in Sierra Leone.
"I did a little work but mainly I spent the time just raising the family, enjoying the kids and improving my golf game," he said. "I probably care a lot less about my career because I'm happily married and have two lovely little children, as opposed to maybe somebody of my age who is alone and their career is the only thing in front of them.
"My priorities have changed a lot in recent years. Now family comes first, the UN second and then work ... it's been just fabulous. I'm having such a good time with the family I never expected to have at this age."
He handles the 25-year difference in ages between him and his wife realistically. "When you have a younger bride, you have to be careful that you recognize the realities of how old you are and not pretend to be anything other than that," he said.
As Douglas talked with the Star in his hotel suite in Beverly Hills, he was affable and easygoing, wearing a beige sweater and trousers. He has grown a grey beard and moustache for his next film, The King Of California, giving him the look of a swashbuckling musketeer.
Like his father Kirk, who turns 90 this year, Douglas has become something of a Hollywood legend. He first set foot on a film set as a 16-year-old gofer on Spartacus and then worked as assistant film editor on Lonely are the Brave. For three years he co-starred in the television series Streets of San Francisco and then won an Oscar for producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975.
He scored another big success as producer and actor in The China Syndrome and won a best actor Oscar for his role as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. He starred with Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction and with Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (no, he says, he has not seen the critically panned sequel). In all, he has appeared in more than 30 films and produced 20.
Nowadays he and Zeta-Jones adjust their schedules so they can spend the most time together with the kids. She is wrapping up filming of Mostly Martha in New York. After the family spends Easter vacation in Bermuda, she and the children will join him in Los Angeles early in May when he begins filming The King of California. Then they'll go to London for the summer where Zeta-Jones is due to star in a film about Houdini.
"I'm letting Catherine call the shots because she's obviously in the prime of her career," he said.
His casual attitude has extended into his producing career; he freely admits he now hires actors for their compatibility as much as their talent. "As your ambitions change, it's important to work with people you're comfortable with," he said. "It's such a ridiculously uncomfortable situation, with cameras in front of you and all of that. So if you're producing, whenever possible you cast people not only for how good they are for the part, but how good they are to work with."
His Sentinel co-stars, Sutherland and Longoria, filmed their roles during their breaks from their hit TV series 24 and Desperate Housewives.
"Television teaches you how to work fast and tight, and they were both great," said Douglas.
"Kiefer and I go back to Flatliners, a picture he appeared in early in his career which I produced. And although we don't talk about it a whole lot, we share that we're second-generation actors with famous fathers and we savour the fact there are not many of us who have succeeded."
Douglas is much more relaxed than when we last spoke, shortly after his marriage six years ago. Then he was angry, and rattled on about the lengths that snoopers were going to, to pry into his private life. At the time he and Zeta-Jones were even unable to use a baby monitor in their house because someone outside was tuning into the frequency.
Now that they spend much of their time in Bermuda, the publicity firestorm has died down. "It helps that we are six years married now, so we're old news," he said. "Other celebrity couples have come along and taken the limelight, which I'm very relieved about."
In between his family life, his UN work and golf, he is working on developing a movie called Racing the Monsoon which he hopes will bring him and his wife to the screen together for the first time. Although they both appeared in the film Traffic, they had no scenes together.
Racing the Monsoon explores the world of Indian diamond smuggling and would be filmed on location.
"Husbands and wives working together doesn't always work out for the best, but Catherine and I would like to do a picture," he said. "In Racing the Monsoon she will have a love interest and I will be the bad guy.
"We'd take our kids out of school and spend six months in India filming it ... it would be a really good experience."
City has presence in political thriller The Sentinel
Actor, Zeta-Jones glad to relinquish celeb spotlight
Apr. 15, 2006. 01:00 AM
JOHN HISCOCK
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
BEVERLY HILLS—Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones have spent so much time in Toronto that they know the city almost as well as they know their way around Hollywood.
They set up home in Toronto while Zeta-Jones filmed Chicago and again when Douglas worked on Don't Say a Word, The In-Laws and, last summer, the action thriller The Sentinel, which reaches theatres this coming Friday.
"Toronto's been our second home for a long time," said Douglas in an interview. "When we were filming The Sentinel we brought the kids with us and we rented the same house we were in the previous time, so it was like coming home again."
With this last film, though, there was a major difference. "Toronto doubles very well for Washington, D.C. and a lot of other cities, but this is one of the few times Toronto plays Toronto in a movie," said Douglas, who is also one of the movie's producers. "It looks terrific."
The climax to The Sentinel, about a mole in the U.S. Secret Service who is plotting to assassinate the president, takes place at a G8 summit unfolding in Toronto, with scenes filmed at City Hall. There, Secret Service agents played by Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland and Eva Longoria shoot it out with the would-be assassins.
"It's unpredictable, topical and has a few twists and turns to it," says Douglas. "It's fascinating to learn about the Secret Service's inner workings. I liked the idea behind The Sentinel because in an era of fear and paranoia, the notion of an unseen enemy is credible — that's the film's big `what if?'"
While they were in Eastern Canada, Douglas and his wife did some property shopping — they bought what he calls "a small farm" on Lac Desmarais in the Laurentians, near Mont Tremblant, Que. "It's not far from Bermuda and it is an ideal place to get away to and do some skiing," he said.
The Sentinel marks 61-year-old Douglas's return to the screen after a three-year break, during which he stayed mainly at the family home in Bermuda with the couple's children, Dylan, 5 and Carys, 3. He also spent some time on his philanthropic work for the United Nations, meeting heads of state and talking about disarmament, and filmed a documentary about child soldiers in Sierra Leone.
"I did a little work but mainly I spent the time just raising the family, enjoying the kids and improving my golf game," he said. "I probably care a lot less about my career because I'm happily married and have two lovely little children, as opposed to maybe somebody of my age who is alone and their career is the only thing in front of them.
"My priorities have changed a lot in recent years. Now family comes first, the UN second and then work ... it's been just fabulous. I'm having such a good time with the family I never expected to have at this age."
He handles the 25-year difference in ages between him and his wife realistically. "When you have a younger bride, you have to be careful that you recognize the realities of how old you are and not pretend to be anything other than that," he said.
As Douglas talked with the Star in his hotel suite in Beverly Hills, he was affable and easygoing, wearing a beige sweater and trousers. He has grown a grey beard and moustache for his next film, The King Of California, giving him the look of a swashbuckling musketeer.
Like his father Kirk, who turns 90 this year, Douglas has become something of a Hollywood legend. He first set foot on a film set as a 16-year-old gofer on Spartacus and then worked as assistant film editor on Lonely are the Brave. For three years he co-starred in the television series Streets of San Francisco and then won an Oscar for producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975.
He scored another big success as producer and actor in The China Syndrome and won a best actor Oscar for his role as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. He starred with Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction and with Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (no, he says, he has not seen the critically panned sequel). In all, he has appeared in more than 30 films and produced 20.
Nowadays he and Zeta-Jones adjust their schedules so they can spend the most time together with the kids. She is wrapping up filming of Mostly Martha in New York. After the family spends Easter vacation in Bermuda, she and the children will join him in Los Angeles early in May when he begins filming The King of California. Then they'll go to London for the summer where Zeta-Jones is due to star in a film about Houdini.
"I'm letting Catherine call the shots because she's obviously in the prime of her career," he said.
His casual attitude has extended into his producing career; he freely admits he now hires actors for their compatibility as much as their talent. "As your ambitions change, it's important to work with people you're comfortable with," he said. "It's such a ridiculously uncomfortable situation, with cameras in front of you and all of that. So if you're producing, whenever possible you cast people not only for how good they are for the part, but how good they are to work with."
His Sentinel co-stars, Sutherland and Longoria, filmed their roles during their breaks from their hit TV series 24 and Desperate Housewives.
"Television teaches you how to work fast and tight, and they were both great," said Douglas.
"Kiefer and I go back to Flatliners, a picture he appeared in early in his career which I produced. And although we don't talk about it a whole lot, we share that we're second-generation actors with famous fathers and we savour the fact there are not many of us who have succeeded."
Douglas is much more relaxed than when we last spoke, shortly after his marriage six years ago. Then he was angry, and rattled on about the lengths that snoopers were going to, to pry into his private life. At the time he and Zeta-Jones were even unable to use a baby monitor in their house because someone outside was tuning into the frequency.
Now that they spend much of their time in Bermuda, the publicity firestorm has died down. "It helps that we are six years married now, so we're old news," he said. "Other celebrity couples have come along and taken the limelight, which I'm very relieved about."
In between his family life, his UN work and golf, he is working on developing a movie called Racing the Monsoon which he hopes will bring him and his wife to the screen together for the first time. Although they both appeared in the film Traffic, they had no scenes together.
Racing the Monsoon explores the world of Indian diamond smuggling and would be filmed on location.
"Husbands and wives working together doesn't always work out for the best, but Catherine and I would like to do a picture," he said. "In Racing the Monsoon she will have a love interest and I will be the bad guy.
"We'd take our kids out of school and spend six months in India filming it ... it would be a really good experience."
It will be interesting to see what happens with the parts filmed at Sherway.