Michael Douglas recalls 'rough' task of recasting his dad Kirk Douglas Brendan Morrow, USA TODAYNovember 28, 2025 at 9:15 AM 0 Michael Douglas is looking back on one of the most iconic films of his producing career − and the awkward situation it created with his father. The Oscarwinning "Wall Street" star, 81, chatted with USA TODAY about the 50th anniversary of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the 1975 movie he produced. The film, which recently received a new release on 4K UHD, stars Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy, a rebellious man admitted to a mental institution.
- - Michael Douglas recalls 'rough' task of recasting his dad Kirk Douglas
Brendan Morrow, USA TODAYNovember 28, 2025 at 9:15 AM
0
Michael Douglas is looking back on one of the most iconic films of his producing career − and the awkward situation it created with his father.
The Oscar-winning "Wall Street" star, 81, chatted with USA TODAY about the 50th anniversary of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the 1975 movie he produced. The film, which recently received a new release on 4K UHD, stars Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy, a rebellious man admitted to a mental institution.
He got involved in the project after his father, screen legend Kirk Douglas, bought the rights to the Ken Kesey novel and starred in a play version. Kirk Douglas intended to play the lead role himself, but he had aged out of the part by the time the film got off the ground. This led to what Michael Douglas describes as the "rough" situation of informing his father he was being replaced with Nicholson.
Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox
Kirk Douglas, left, and Michael Douglas attend Santa Barbara International Film Festival's 2011 Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film honoring Michael Douglas at the Biltmore Four Seasons on Oct. 13, 2011, in Santa Barbara, California.
"He was disappointed," Douglas says. "The only thing I know that saved the situation was how good the picture was and how happy he was that a great piece of material did not get ruined."
Douglas adds that his father would rib him about the situation for years after, which would lead Michael to defensively reply, "Since when does the producer have the decision on casting? It's the director!" He could understand the disappointment, given "how few good parts you get as an actor," but in the end, his dad was a "tremendous fan" of Nicholson's performance.
Plus, it surely helped that Kirk Douglas shared in the profits on the film, which was a huge hit at the box office. "I always teased him because he made more money than any picture he ever did off 'Cuckoo's Nest,' " Douglas says.
Producer Saul Zaentz (from left), Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher and Michael Douglas celebrate their wins for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" at the 48th Academy Awards in 1976.
But getting "Cuckoo's Nest" across the finish line wasn't easy. Douglas recalls seeking distribution for the completed movie, which would later be declared one of the greatest ever made, only to be rejected by one major Hollywood studio after another.
While Douglas was "shocked" by this, he got the last laugh when the movie swept the Oscars in 1976, becoming one of only three films in history to win the "big five" top Academy Awards: best picture, best actor, best actress, best director and best screenplay. (The others are "It Happened One Night" and "The Silence of the Lambs.")
Douglas playfully notes he took a "certain pleasure" in seeing those studio executives who turned him down come to regret their decision.
"I always tried to play it very humble and let them say, 'Oh, we're kicking ourselves in the butt. How could we have let this go?' " he jokes.
Michael Douglas poses in the portrait studio during Red Sea International Film Festival on Dec. 6, 2024, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Aside from simply enjoying the schadenfreude, it was also an important learning experience for Douglas.
"It was a lesson for everybody. It certainly was great for me," he says. "It gave me such confidence about my instincts, which is such an important [part of] being an actor or a producer."
Though the film would land Nicholson his first Oscar, the actor already had been nominated four times and kept losing. So when he was up for "Cuckoo's Nest," Nicholson was so convinced he'd lose again that Douglas had to push for him to even show up.
"I had to literally drag him," he says. "I remember right up until the end guilting him [and saying], 'You're not the only person. There's nine different nominations. Come on, Jack!'
When "Cuckoo's Nest" lost the first few awards it was nominated for, Douglas remembers Nicholson repeatedly turning to him and saying, "I told you, Mikey D!" Douglas looks back on that Oscars as a "magical, magical night."
Even after sweeping the Oscars, though, Douglas says it wasn't until 1987, the year he starred in both "Fatal Attraction" and "Wall Street," that he felt he fully made a name for himself as more than just the son of Kirk Douglas. He won best actor for the latter film.
"That was the year I felt I got out of his shadow, which was monumental," Douglas says. "He was a very, very impressive guy, and I miss him dearly."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michael Douglas opens up about Kirk Douglas, 'Cuckoo's Nest'
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: November 28, 2025 at 04:45PM on Source: MARIO MAG
#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle