Michael Douglas wishes he could replay the year 2000. “How can this year, 2001, be any better?” he asked as he relaxed in a huge leather chair.
It was obvious Douglas was happy. He’s even 30 pounds thinner. You see the slimmer actor in his current film, “Traffic,” in which he plays a Supreme Court judge from Ohio who is asked by the president to become the new anti-drug czar.
“I originally gained the weight,” he explained, “when I did my riskiest role to date, the foggy-minded professor in an odd and quirky movie, `Wonder Boys.'”
His risk paid off when critics were unanimous in their praise of Douglas in “Wonder Boys.”
“I’d advise any man over 50 not to gain 30 pounds for any project. It’s hard getting it off. But, when you’re married to a beautiful and young bride, you have to work harder.”
Douglas was in a mellow mood as he outlined his favorite year. “I proposed to Catherine [actress Zeta-Jones] at the stroke of 12, New Year’s Eve 2000. Sure I got down on one knee when I asked her to marry me and gave her the ring,” he said.
And the wonders of 2000 continued with the birth of their son, Dylan, who has a dimpled chin like his grandpa, Kirk Douglas.
“When my first son, Cameron, arrived 22 years ago, my attention span was divided between concentrating on a new baby and my career, for I was trying to establish myself as an actor,” he said.
It was 1978, long before the actor had produced “Romancing the Stone” or received an Oscar for “Wall Street.” “I’ve a few years on me since then and hope I’m wiser in spending more time with my family.
“Being a second-generation acting family, I learned a lot from my dad. I discovered quickly it’s what you bring to a role, not who you are related to, that’s the bottom line.”
The next monumental moment in 2000 was his and Catherine’s wedding at the Plaza Hotel in New York. “Do you realize,” he said with a smile, “there were 300 plus guests, and over half of them were relatives? Catherine’s were from Wales and mine from Hollywood. The hotel told me we had the longest-lasting wedding reception in the hotel’s history. It ended 6 a.m. the following day.
“My biggest hurdle was to stay dry-eyed through the ceremony. Catherine made me promise not to look at her during the vows. She can always tell when I start to well up, and she knew if she saw me misty eyed, she too would start to cry.”
Promise or not, it didn’t work out that way. “When I was standing there with my son Cameron next to me as my best man, and I saw her walking down the aisle, our eyes met for a brief second. Let’s just say that our vows were sincere but wet.”
Then he accepted the role in “Traffic.” It’s another challenge — Democratic Douglas playing a conservative state Supreme Court judge.
“Director Steve Soderbergh had sent me the script earlier, but I turned it down. I felt the role too passive. Later, I learned Harrison Ford had agreed to do it, went to work on the script, and then decided to bow out.
“Then, Steve sent the script to Catherine, offering her the role of the Mexican wife of a wealthy drug lord. She liked it. I read it again and was amazed how the judge’s character had been fleshed out. I liked it, too.”
Zeta-Jones told Soderbergh, “I want to play this role, but I must tell you I’m six months’ pregnant.” He had the role rewritten as a woman expecting a baby. He also agreed to film all of her scenes first.
Though the film was shot in San Diego, Douglas explained, “Catherine and I have no scenes together, for it’s three different stories that merge into one. I was on location when she was working just to be sure she was feeling OK. Then, when her scenes were completed, mine began.
“What really gets the attention is while the judge is learning about drug traffic problems from authorities at the border, his own home is in jeopardy. He hasn’t a clue that in his beautiful suburban home, his straight-A teenage daughter is into the hard-drug scene.
“Soderbergh gave me the freedom to ask the questions most people would. In the scenes at the border, the dialogue is unscripted. Those are not actors but actual border officials and DEA men. Again at the scenes when the judge is at a Washington cocktail party, those were real senators and congressmen I was talking with.”
What’s ahead in 2001? “We’re both going back to work,” he said. “Friends keep asking, `When are you going on your honeymoon?’ They don’t realize we have been together 18 months already, and that was a constant honeymoon.
“During that time we discovered a lot about each other. Catherine at age 11 was featured in the cast of `Annie’ on the London stage. She’s not only a singer but a dancer. The latter,” he paused, “I already knew. When I met her in France at the Cannes Film Festival, we danced together. From that first dance, I realized she should be the mother of my children, and told her so.”
Zeta-Jones also discovered some things about Douglas — such as his ability to add figures faster than a calculator.
Now after a year of travel and play, they are eager “to get back into harness again and start working.” He stars in a thriller, Gary Fleder’s “Don’t Say a Word,” while Zeta-Jones plays an actress “diva” with Julia Roberts, John Cusack and Billy Crystal in “America’s Sweethearts.”
Another reason there’s a rush to work is the anticipated Screen Actors Guild strike.
