Michael Douglas reveals why he has ‘no real intentions' of returning to acting
The Oscar winner, 80, spoke at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic on Saturday and confirmed he has current no plans to act again.
'I have not worked since 2022 purposefully because I realized I had to stop,' he said, per Variety. 'I had been working pretty hard for almost 60 years, and I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set.'
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8 Michael Douglas attends the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on July 5.
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'I have no real intentions of going back,' Douglas continued. 'I say I'm not retired because if something special came up, I'd go back, but otherwise, no.'
8 Michael Douglas during the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
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8 Michael Douglas spoke about the future of his acting career at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
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Douglas last acted as Benjamin Franklin in the 2024 Apple TV+ miniseries 'Franklin.'
The 'One Who Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest' producer also spoke about how his throat cancer diagnosis impacted his acting career.
'Stage 4 cancer is not a holiday, but there aren't many choices, are there?,' he said. 'I went with the program, involving chemo and radiation, and was fortunate. The surgery would have meant not being able to talk and removing part of my jaw and that would have been limiting as an actor.'
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8 Michael Douglas in 'The Streets of San Francisco' Season 2 in 1973.
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8 Michael Douglas on the set of the 1978 medical movie 'Coma.'
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Douglas added that he has 'one little independent movie' that he's 'trying to get a good script out of,' but 'in the spirit of maintaining a good marriage' he's 'happy to play the wife' to his spouse Catherine Zeta-Jones for the time being.
In May, Douglas, who runs the independent production Further Films, told Deadline that he doesn't miss being in front of the camera.
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8 Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
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'I'm enjoying my hiatus and enjoying my life,' he shared. 'It was overwhelming running the production company and acting at the same time.'
'If something good comes up that I really like. But I don't feel a burning desire,' Douglas added of returning to acting. 'I'm still producing. I still love bringing people together.'
8 Glenn Close and Michael Douglas on the set of 1987's 'Fatal Attraction.'
Corbis via Getty Images
Douglas also shut down the possibility of doing another Marvel movie after starring as Hank Pym in the 'Ant-Man' trilogy and 'Avengers: Endgame.'
'I don't think so. I had the experience, and I was excited to do it,' Douglas stated. 'I'd never done a green screen picture before.'
8 Michael Douglas arrives at the 2025 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Ceská editoriální fotografie/Profimedia/Shutterstock
Zeta-Jones, whom Douglas has been married to since 2000, confirmed last year she was stepping away from mainstream Hollywood and instead focusing on indie projects.
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'I want to turn up. I want to do some interesting work,' the 55-year-old 'Wednesday' star said at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
't goes back to my theater thinking, because I don't feel I have to prove anything to anybody,' she added. 'I don't have to work hard for other people.'
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