Michael Douglas Reveals Why He Has 'No Real Intentions' of Acting Again

Michael Douglas could be done with acting after nearly 60 years in Hollywood.

The Oscar winner, 80, said he has “no real intentions” of starring in another project — unless, of course, a script comes along that really appeals to him.

“I have not worked since 2022 purposefully because I realized I had to stop,” Douglas said at a Sunday, July 6, press conference during the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic, per Variety.

“I had been working pretty hard for almost 60 years, and I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set. I have no real intentions of going back. I say I’m not retired because if something special came up, I’d go back, but otherwise, no,” he added.

The Wall Street star said that he is content with his career and gave a sweet shout-out to his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Douglas noted that there is “one little independent movie” he is “trying to get a good script out of.” However, “in the spirit of maintaining a good marriage,” he is “happy to play the wife” to the Chicago star going forward.

Douglas and Zeta-Jones, 55, married in 2000 and share two children: son Dylan, 24, and daughter Carys, 22. (Douglas is also dad to Cameron, 46, whom he shares with ex-wife Diandra Luker.)

Michael, the son of the legendary Kirk Douglas and actress Diana Dill, followed in his famous parents’ footsteps by getting into acting in the late 1960s. His first breakout role was the CBS television play The Experiment.

The actor has made a name for himself over the decades with starring roles in Wall Street, Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction and more. His role as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street earned him a Best Actor Oscar in 1988. He also won the Oscar for Best Picture for producing 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

In recent years, Douglas has earned further acclaim for his starring roles as Liberace in Behind the Candelabra, Netflix comedy The Kominsky Method and Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man movies. His last onscreen roles were 2023 blockbuster Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the 2024 Apple TV+ miniseries Franklin, in which he played Benjamin Franklin.

During the press conference, Douglas also reflected on his oral cancer diagnosis in 2010, including why he didn’t have surgery.

“Stage 4 cancer is not a holiday, but there aren’t many choices, are there?” he said. “I went with the program, involving chemo and radiation, and was fortunate. The surgery would have meant not being able to talk and removing part of my jaw and that would have been limiting as an actor.”