Lifetime of art

H ollywood star Michael Douglas was felicitated with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award during the concluding ceremony of the International Film Festival of India in Goa on Tuesday.

Praise for PM Modi

About the relevance of the festival and PM Modi’s leadership skills, Michael Douglas said, “I also think this is more and more the sort of spirit, and the beauty of this festival is that you had representation from 78 countries and it’s only a reflection of the strength of your Indian filming, which is renowned and known around the world. I think you’re in very good hands, I think it’s beginning too.” He also praised Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, for his efforts. ANI

In a lighter vein

During the interaction, a reporter asked Douglas, “I have seen Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct. Between these two movies, which do you feel you worked more hard for and which one do you like more?” The actor leaned forward and said on the mike, “May I ask you if you have seen any other movies of mine or are these two the only ones that you have seen?” As he said this, the entire room burst out laughing. However, the actor quickly moved on as he answered the question, “I feel Fatal Attraction had a good story and a very simple yet riveting concept.” IANS

Earlier on Monday, the actor, accompanied by his actor-wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, walked the red carpet at the festival. “Thank you all for being here since it is an honour for Catherine and I, and our son. Our family loves India. This is our fourth visit, first three times it was North India and now we have the pleasure, the joy and the honour of being here in Goa; very grateful to IFFI to get this wonderful honour,” he said.

The 79-year-old actor said he had read the history of Satyajit Ray back in college during the 1960s while taking a film class. He became aware of some of the filmmaker’s work as well during that time. “I think, he (Ray) sort of created, not the beginning of the Indian films but the idea of multiple jobs. He did so many things as an author, musician, editor as well as a director. So it’s a tremendous honour to receive this award and see the other people that have received it before,” the actor said.

Douglas has won multiple awards, including two Oscars, five Golden Globe trophies as well as Cecil B DeMille award. He is most famous for his roles in the films Wall Street, Fatal Attraction, The War of the Roses, Basic Instinct, The American President and Wonder Boys.

Douglas on Monday said it took a long time for him to move out of the shadow of his father, veteran actor late Kirk Douglas. “In the beginning of his career, he was playing a young man and it didn’t really work until his, maybe a six or seventh movie called, Champion. In 1950, he was nominated for an Academy award. He played a nasty fighter and then that dark side, that nasty side of him, sort of changed his whole direction and perspective of working,” the actor said, recalling his father’s career graph. — PTI

Catherine says her son loves SRK’s Om Shanti Om

Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones revealed that her son Dylan loves the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Om Shanti Om. “When my son, Dylan, was really young, we showed him Om Shanti Om. And when his friends came over, he used to tell them, ‘Do you wanna see a movie from India?’.” She then asked Dylan, who was sitting in the audience, “How many times have we seen that film?.” He replied, “I’ve seen that over 50 times, it’s one long movie, yeah.” She then spoke about her favourite Indian movie — the Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Irrfan Khan-starrer The Lunchbox. About the film, she said, “One of my most favourite films from India is The Lunchbox. I really love that film. I watched it by chance on a long international flight and fell in love with it. I watched it twice back-to-back. That movie touched me in a sense of being an Indian movie. I also got to meet Ritesh Batra in London. I’m waiting for him to write The Lunchbox 2 for me, so that I could get a chance to work with him.” IANS

His most memorable roles

WALL STREET (1988)

Gordon Gekko is arguably Michael Douglas’most famous character. Gekko’s famous line ‘Greed, for lack of a better word, is good’is still popular. For his performance, Douglas got his second Academy Award (and his first for acting) and his third Golden Globe Award (his second for acting). The film had a sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, for which Douglas bagged his sixth Golden Globe nomination for acting.

FATAL ATTRACTION (1987)

Douglas played lawyer Don Gallagher in Adrian Lyne’s erotic thriller.

THE CHINA SYNDROME (1979)

The China Syndrome is a film about a meltdown of a nuclear reactor. It stars Jack Lemmon, Jane Fonda and Douglas.

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT (1995)

Douglas plays President Andrew Shepherd in The American President. This is one of the juiciest roles in Douglas’ career. Shepherd, a widower, is preparing to run for another term and he falls in love when he meets environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening).

BASIC INSTINCT (1992)

Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct is one of the most iconic films of the 1990s. Pitted against Sharon Stone, Douglas’ character of police detective Nick Curran stands out.

TRAFFIC (2000)

In this Steven Soderbergh directorial, Douglas plays conservative judge Robert Wakefield, who works his way up to be appointed the nation’s drug czar. For Traffic, Douglas won his first Screen Actors Guild Award for Ensemble Cast.

WONDER BOYS (2000)

Douglas played Prof Grady Tripp, who teaches creative writing at a university in Curtis Hanson’s Wonder Boys. He earned his fifth Golden Globe nomination for his role.

ANT-MAN (2015)

Douglas played physicist Hank Pym, who was once that original Ant-Man in Peyton Reed’s Marvel film. The film has a sequel, titled Ant-Man and the Wasp.