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Michael Douglas reflected on having to tell his dad, legendary actor Kirk Douglas, that he wasn’t going to star in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Kirk had originally bought the rights to the book and had starred in the lead role on Broadway, but by the time the movie was being made, he was too old for the part
Instead, Jack Nicholson starred in the movie and won an Oscar
Michael Douglas made his dad Kirk Douglas’ dream come true when he produced the movie adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The one snag was that he did it without Kirk.
Michael, 80, reflected on the 1975 movie, which he produced and ultimately won an Oscar for, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly published July 10. Michael’s dad Kirk, who died in 2020 at age 103, was attached to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the groundbreaking 1962 novel by Ken Kesey, before it was even published. But Michael had to tell his dad that he couldn’t be in the film.
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Kirk Douglas (center left) in ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ on Broadway
“It wasn’t easy,” the actor said. “He had acquired the book in galley form before it had even been released, and had it adapted into a play by Dale Wasserman. It went to Broadway, and at the height of his career.” Kirk played the story’s hero, Randle Patrick “Mac” McMurphy.
“This was right after Spartacus; he was one of the biggest stars, and the idea was to do it as a play, then as a movie. He tried it for years but wasn’t able to get any traction on making it,” Michael said.
Then, Michael fell in love with the book during college. When he heard Kirk was going to sell the rights, he told him, “Give me a chance. I’ll run with it. I’ll try to get it set up and try to get you as the actor in it.”
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Michael Douglas with his Oscar for ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ in 1976
“It hadn’t been going anywhere. I’m sure there’s a part of him thinking it’ll be a good learning experience for the kid, right?” Michael said.
By the time the movie, directed by Miloš Forman, was actually happening, it was “close to 15 years later.”
“When he’d done the show on Broadway, his career was in a different place — and different age-wise. So yes, that was my job: having to tell my dad,” Michael said of the decision not to have his dad start in the film. Jack Nicholson ended up taking the part (and winning an Oscar for it).
Michael said he felt for his dad because, “I knew how few really good parts there are in your career, and this is one of maybe four, you know, great parts that he could have had. So it wasn’t just like another movie.”
As for when he broke the news, he remembered, “He didn’t say much. He understood it. And then, after it all happened, because I gave him half of my producing deal, he would say he made more money off of that than any movie he had ever made before as an actor. So that helped!”
Kirk also reached out to Nicholson, 88, after he saw the movie. Still, the father and son had a “running joke” for years that “he wouldn’t even cast me in his picture.” Michael said that when his dad watched the movie for the first time, he was “just blown away.”
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest also starred Louise Fletcher, Will Sampson, Sydney Lassick, William Redfield, Christopher Lloyd and Brad Dourif, plus Michael’s longtime friend Danny DeVito, who had starred in the 1971 off-Broadway revival of the play.
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Kirk Douglas (left) and Michael Douglas in 2011
“Being fortunate enough to be in it, what a blessing for me,” DeVito told PEOPLE this month about the movie, which Fathom Entertainment is bringing to 1,000 theaters nationwide on July 13 and 16 with a 4K restoration from the Academy Film Archive and Teatro Della Pace Films.
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DeVito, 80, also remembered Michael’s stress at having to break the casting news to his dad. “I wasn’t in the room when he had to tell his father,” he said. “[Kirk] was a tough guy, man. I mean, Kirk was one of a kind, a wonderful man, but I can’t imagine what it was like for Michael to have to say, ‘Yeah, I’m taking the movie, Pop, and I’m going to get it made. But that’s the good news. I’ve got something to tell you. Do you want to sit down?’ … [But] he picked the right actor. Oh my God, did he!”
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was ultimately nominated for nine Oscars, winning five: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay – Adapted from Other Material.
Read the original article on People
