During an appearance at the TCM Classic Film Festival in New York at the end of January, Michael Douglas revealed the offensive comment he heard from director Oliver Stone during the filming of “Wall Street”.
+ Former child actor from “How to Eat Fried Worms,” Blake Garrett dies at 33
Speaking about his work on the 1987 classic, Douglas said that two weeks after filming began, Stone called him in for a conversation and delivered harsh criticism of his performance.
According to a report from Entertainment Weekly, despite the shock, the 81-year-old actor said that, to him, Stone was willing to provoke him and even make Douglas hate him in order to get the best out of him.
“Well, we were finishing the second week of filming, and there was a knock on my door. ‘Hey, Mike, it’s Oliver. Can I come in?’,” Douglas recalled. “I said, ‘Sure, come in.’ He came into the trailer and sat down. He asked me, ‘Are you okay?’ I said, ‘Yes, I’m okay’.”
Douglas said the director didn’t hold back and asked if he was using anything: “Are you using drugs?”. I said, ‘No, I’m not using drugs.’ And he said, ‘Because you look like you’ve never acted in your life’.”
“He was willing for me to hate him for the rest of the film to give me that extra push,” the actor reflected. “His track record of success with actors is impressive. So I’m deeply grateful that he gave me the role and pushed me to another level.”
In “Wall Street”, Douglas played Gordon Gekko, a ruthless and unscrupulous businessman, and his performance as the cold and calculating villain earned him several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1988. He returned to the role of Gekko in the sequel, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” (2010), with Stone once again directing.
Images: reproduction Sunset Boulevard/publicity. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
