Michael Douglas Thankful for Criticism During 'Wall Street' Filming

Actor Michael Douglas opened up about the blunt criticism he received from director Oliver Stone while filming the 1987 drama "Wall Street."

Douglas discussed the incident in a recent interview with TCM host Alicia Malone, recounting an interaction that took place roughly two weeks into production. 

At the time, Douglas was portraying Gordon Gekko in the film.

"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, 81, recalled, according to People. "I say, 'Yeah, come on in.' He comes in the trailer and sits down. He says to me, 'You OK?' I said, 'Yeah, I'm OK.' "

According to Douglas, Stone then questioned if something was interfering with his work. 

"[He asked], 'Are you doing drugs?' I said, 'No, I'm not doing drugs.' And he said, 'Because you look like you've never acted before in your life,'" Douglas said.

Douglas said the conversation prompted him to reassess his performance, noting that he did not review daily footage during filming.

"So I said, 'Well, I don't like to look at the dailies because I'm one of those guys that always sees what's wrong or what's not going to be in the film' … so I don't pay attention to the dailies," Douglas said. "So I said, 'I guess I'd better take a look,' and he said, 'Yeah, you better.'"

Douglas said he later went to the editing room to review two scenes, including a limousine sequence filmed with Charlie Sheen. 

"And I'm looking at them really hard, and critically, and they seemed pretty good. So I keep saying, 'I think it's pretty good,' and [Stone said], 'Yeah, it is, isn't it?'" he recalled.

Douglas said Stone's approach was aimed at pushing him during the production.

"He was willing for me to hate his guts for the rest of this movie to get that extra little push," Douglas said.

Stone later reflected on Douglas' work in Matt Zoller Seitz's 2016 book "The Oliver Stone Experience." 

"I think he was more comfortable [playing a villain], but I think Michael struggles for comfort levels. I mean, he's not comfortable, per se; he's always looking," Stone said, according to NME. 

"If you notice, he moves his shoulders a lot. When he's misused, which he sometimes is in films, that cockiness of Gekko can be irritating, smarmy, in the wrong roles," he added. "But I like Michael when he's doing it in good movies, with good material.

"I liked him in Wall Street very much."

Douglas told Malone that Stone has consistently been able to "push actors" to deliver "their best performance," citing James Woods in "Salvador," Tom Cruise in "Born on the Fourth of July," Kevin Costner in "JFK" and Val Kilmer in "The Doors."

"His record of successes with actors is quite impressive. So I'm deeply, deeply appreciative of the fact that it gave me part and the fact that he pushed me to another level," Douglas said.

Douglas' performance as Gekko earned him the Academy Award for best actor.

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