Michael Douglas

Like my father, like most actors, I was a pretty ambitious guy.

Actors, I have to say, most of the time, they elevate things; they don't screw things up most of the time.

My own parents divorced when I was six. I was raised with my brother Joel by our mother on the East Coast, visiting my father in Los Angeles during holidays. When your parents are divorced, you don't know anything else, do you?

The people who work in Wall Street still look up to Gordon Gekko. He's sort of a guru.

Sometimes we spend more efforts with people that are strangers in terms of making an impression than the person that's closest to us. And you just gotta remember not to take for granted that person that's closest to you.

'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' which my father had tried to get made for six, seven years, and I for four, was turned down by every studio. Every studio in the world had passed on it.

Liberace was one of the biggest stars in America. He was a kind of a phenomenon.

It took me too long to realise that if you go to a marriage counsellor to resolve problems, it's in his interest to keep the marriage going.

Chemotherapy takes its toll; the more you keep doing it, you lose your energy, and it gets more difficult to swallow.

Kids know. They know everything. I would err on the side of pretty much sharing everything.

The studios basically, besides developing some material, their strength is distribution. Distribution in any other business is a cost that you incur. You know, in a trucking business, you eat it. In a film business, distribution is a profit center.

My marriage and my families come certainly before my career.

Control is what gives you privacy.

'Five Easy Pieces,' 'Easy Rider' - those are indie pictures; those were not studio pictures. They had relationships with studio distribution, but they were indies.

My dad was a movie star. Having that name was good and bad. People think it's a silver spoon. It's not.

The Cold War's end pushed disarmament down most leaders' agendas. It's a sophisticated issue, which I think is one reason why it is not so hands-on to many people. It's not visceral. It's not like a starving child.

Of course I feel blessed that I have a wife that is 25 years younger.

When I go on a holiday to a tropical place, I'll spray tan before I go.

I've never been one to carefully calculate my career decisions, to sit on the outside looking in. I go with my passion and what moves me.

If your work isn't exciting, doesn't stir the emotions, where's the challenge? Where's the progress if you always play it safe?