Comments on: Celebrating the Living: Michael Douglas

By: Conor Malcolm Crockford

Conor Malcolm Crockford — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 17:41:00 +0000

In reply to wallflower. He and Turner sell the shit out of that movie. There's no real sense of vanity or gentility - they are fucked up people, especially Douglas.

By: Balthazar Bee

Balthazar Bee — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 17:12:00 +0000

His work in Wonder Boys was so delicate, yet so comically powerful, that I realized I’d always underestimated him as an actor.

He may not be a chameleon, but his hair in Black Rain probably deserved its own credit.
https://uncletnuc.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/9bbcb-black-rainstress.jpg?w=469&h=429

By: DJ JD

DJ JD — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 13:23:00 +0000

Say what you will about Hollywood, but nepotism never lasts long on its own there. (Jaden Smith has some work to do on his personal brand.) I can’t imagine anyone thinking Michael Douglas isn’t the real deal by now.

By: Rosy Fingers

Rosy Fingers — Sun, 09 Jul 2017 23:22:00 +0000

In reply to wallflower.

That’s a great and accurate Rabin quote.

I’ve actually just purchased The War of the Roses and plan to watch it this week. Haven’t seen it since I was about eleven but I must have seen it half a dozen times around that age. I loved it then but I imagine that now, into the third decade of my relationship, it’s gonna resonate a bit more.

By: wallflower

wallflower — Sun, 09 Jul 2017 23:00:00 +0000

In reply to Rosy Fingers. He blew me away in The War of the Roses--everyone did, including Dan Castellanata. Douglas just went so far into this entitled, smug character that it went beyond any kind of a caricature--this guy was real and horrible and Douglas just embodied him without any self-consciousness. It's on the level of Nicolas Cage at his best--the ability to portray an extreme role without any distance. (Kiss of Death is the comparable performance here.) And Nathan Rabin nailed how great he was in Behind the Candelabra, and why: "he was still playing an entitled, sexually voracious alpha-male who acted like the world should prostrate itself before him, only this time as a screaming queen."

By: Conor Malcolm Crockford

Conor Malcolm Crockford — Sun, 09 Jul 2017 22:52:00 +0000

I was thinking the other day about how much I’ve always loved Michael Douglas – there’s enough to his star persona to fill a whole book. How he phrases dialogue into curt, clipped brackets, his hard, handsome looks that got him cast as cops and stockbrokers alike, his dry humor, the consistent depiction of masculine men secretly tormented by their insecurities and the darker corners of their personality (also he is quietly very funny even in broad roles – War of the Roses is gloriously mean). Behind The Candelabra is such a great performance because while he completely commits to the avuncular, sweet public side of Liberace, you also see the performer who had to climb his way up, who is used to control. When he growls “Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?” at Scott Thorson, that’s Liberace and that’s Michael Douglas.

By: Rosy Fingers

Rosy Fingers — Sun, 09 Jul 2017 22:41:00 +0000

He’s an actor I always disliked because in my head I conflated him with his roles and so he represented the worst of baby boomer yuppie manhood. Wall Street, yes. But also Jewel of the Nile, Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, War of the Roses, The Game and, worst of all, Falling Down. He’s like toxic masculinity personified. But Behind the Candelabra turned me around a bit because, yes, another kind of toxic masculinity, but displaying self-awareness that I didn’t notice before.

None of this of course says anything about his acting abilities. He’s a fine actor. And now I look at his producing credits on IMDB and that’s actually a more interesting line-up than his acting credits.