My own parents divorced when I was six. I was raised with my brother Joel by our mother on the East Coast, visiting my father in Los Angeles during holidays. When your parents are divorced, you don't know anything else, do you?
— Michael Douglas
You just have to know what your responsibility is to the movie, and live up to that, and be considerate of the other actors in the scene... I have never been competitive in that way - I always want my leading ladies to be as good as they possibly can be.
My father did 90-plus films. He was Spartacus!
In the movie 'Wall Street' I play Gordon Gekko, a greedy corporate executive who cheated to profit while innocent investors lost their savings. The movie was fiction, but the problem is real.
I was there the night John Lennon was shot, three blocks away. It left a lasting impression on me.
My marriage and my families come certainly before my career.
I believe there is a spirit within us, which we nurture based upon our efforts and what we bring to the world. But it doesn't come from the outside; it comes from the inside.
Most of the stories I read are about my Hollywood pedigree.
Sometimes art imitates life.
Women are now very comfortable to have babies into their late 30s. You can be a father in your 50s. I'm not saying it's for everybody, and I think people have to get their own life secure before they take on the responsibility of a partner and children.
When I go on a holiday to a tropical place, I'll spray tan before I go.
I grew up on the East Coast and was going to go to an Ivy League School, but at the last minute I decided to be a hippy. It was the protest movements on the war, peace movements were going on at our university. It was a fantastic time.
Directing talent is very nebulous. You know, it's not in front of you like an actor's performance.
I've always been somebody who, when I started a picture, never knew what the next picture would be.
Control is what gives you privacy.
My dad was a movie star. Having that name was good and bad. People think it's a silver spoon. It's not.
Actors, I have to say, most of the time, they elevate things; they don't screw things up most of the time.
During my first marriage, my career was the most important thing in my life.
Early on, someone had told me, 'You know, the camera can always tell when you're lying.' And, Jesus, that intimidated me. 'The camera can always tell? How am I going to do this?' Until one day I thought, 'Wait a minute, acting is lying. Acting is all about lying.'
Paul Rudd is ripped.
If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.
The quality of health care in Canada is excellent.
I have some idea of the pressure of finding your own identity with a famous father.
I do think of myself as a bit of a loner, a bit of an independent. I'm one of those people who, when they're sick, like to curl up and remove myself. I don't like a lot of people around. There is nothing you can do to help.
My mother and father met at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was a senior and she was a junior, and their marriage didn't last very long.
Retiring gives the impression that you're relieved that your job is over.
Serious is when they tell you, 'You've got cancer.' Cancer is serious, but then the rest of it is not.
For a long time, I can't say I was one who really enjoyed acting. I was always censoring it, or editing it, or analyzing it, rather than just going with it.
I don't know if likeable, pleasant characters have enough conflict for me to want to do them. I admire those people, but I've never been that kind of screen presence who can do nothing. I need to do something.
Liberace was one of the biggest stars in America. He was a kind of a phenomenon.
I don't smile a lot in my pictures. I'm always so... grim.
Cancer didn't bring me to my knees, it brought me to my feet.
In 'Wall Street,' Charlie Sheen carried that movie.
I enjoy provocative things that are questionable.
There are not a lot of sons or daughters of actors who have made it. Hollywood is awash with failures.
Like my father, like most actors, I was a pretty ambitious guy.
I don't wish ill will on anybody.
Our economy is increasingly dependent on the success and integrity of the financial markets.
I don't think tongue cancer is the best cancer for an actor.
Religion has certainly been shoved down my throat.
I try not to dwell too much on a bad marriage.
I come from a tough stock.
I guess there are some women who like older men, but it's a smaller group.
I don't ever do those kind of epic, huge, green-screen movies.
People are goofy about the movie business, so you end up counting on friends you knew before you were successful. It is harder to make new friends because you are a little more cautious.
Of course I feel blessed that I have a wife that is 25 years younger.
My movies are usually about stripping off the makeup, getting down to the skeleton.
The arts are a celebration of life.
The message from national security experts and citizens around the world is clear: The only way to eliminate the global nuclear danger is to eliminate all nuclear weapons.
Directors have so much else to do besides tell actors what to do. There are so many issues and problems.
