Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Ive become the expert on sex scenes in movies.
He wasnt entirely joking.
You have to work out the choreography, he said.
You start very slowly and then you work your way up to a faster pace.
Well, its the same thing.
And particularly if youre doing a love scene, its important for the lady that youre not taking advantage.
So you tell them beforehand when youre starting, All right, Im going to put my hand here.
And you start slow and then you go up, up, up.
If youre successful, it looks like its all impulsive.
But its very well choreographed.
It was an interesting spectacle.
Douglas was a debased everyman,often hopelessly out of his element, a mark.
Sometimes, it even took him by surprise.
Douglas recalled the intense experience of premieringBasic Instinctat Cannes in 1992.
We had a very quiet dinner afterward.
Everybody was just sort of digesting it.
We were watching the first screenings ofFatal Attraction.
And the audience laughed.
And Sherry Lansing, my producing partner, she says, I cant believe it.
The audience has forgiven you already.
Indeed, even the people who claimed they couldnt relate toFatal Attractionwound up relating toFatal Attraction.
This is not a big deal here, Douglas recalled.
But the movie turned out to be a huge hit in France.
Every French wife took her husband to that movie and said, Sit down here.
Just want you to know this is what could happen.
He believes its because these were juicy parts that let them be villains.
Nurse Ratched was a great part, but it was the villain.
And we had five major actresses turn the part down.
They didnt want to do it.
Male actors, you always loved the good villain part.
Those are the ones that really were really good to get by.
And I remember going to a party after that movie with Anne Bancroft.
Anne was a wonderful actress, and one of the people who turned that part down.
They were all talking about the movie, it had won a lot of Oscars.
And at one point, she slugged her husband, Mel Brooks.
She said, Itoldyou I should have done that movie!
You told me to turn that down!
It was your fault.
Douglas explained that the way he thought about acting changed over the course of his career.
Somebody once told me, The camera can always tell when youre lying.
I live in New York.
I could be a lawyer.
And then I just saw it and said, Wait a minute, its about lying.
I lie every day.
We lie every day.
Douglas admitted that he never really felt comfortable in leading-man roles.
In this particular aspect, he saw a similarity between his career and his fathers.
My father started off playing sensitive-young-man roles.
It was a much different role for him.
I look back, and I sort of started my career playing a sensitive young man.
And that led up toWall Street.
Director Oliver Stone, famous for being blunt with actors, chastised him early in the shoot.
He said, Hi.
I said, Hi.
He said to me, You okay?
No, Im not on drugs.
Because you look like youve never acted before in your life.
Taken aback, Douglas had a look at his dailies and told Stone that he thought they were okay.
But Douglas realized that this was partly Stones way of getting the right energy from his performer.
What was the other reason?
It was not the most inspired decision.
We never quite got the script right.
