Following a nearly 60-year onscreen career, Michael Douglas‘ leading man days might be in the past.
At the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the 2x Oscar winner recently noted that unless “something special came up” for him to play, he has “no real intentions” of returning to acting in the future.
“I’ve had a very busy career. Now, I have not worked since 2022, purposefully, because I realized I had to stop,” he explained during a press conference.
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“I’d 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,” added Douglas. “I’m very happy with taking the time off. I have no real intentions. But I say I’m not retired, because if something special came up, I’d go back. But otherwise, I’m quite happy. I just like to watch my wife work.”
The comment comes after Douglas teased Deadline in December that he’s “flirting with” the idea of making a “good horror” movie in the near future.
After undergoing chemotherapy for his stage IV cancer diagnosis in 2010, Douglas noted at KVIFF that he “was lucky to continue working,” avoiding a form of tongue cancer that would have removed part of his jaw and limited his ability to speak.
Douglas is currently at KVIFF for the 50th anniversary of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to present a newly restored version of the Miloš Forman film, which Douglas produced with Saul Zaentz.
