Michael Douglas has revealed that his now Oscar-winning performance in financial world almost fell apart from the start after director Oliver Stone openly questioned her performance during filming.
Speaking at the recent TCM Classic Film Festival in New York City, Douglas recalled a tense moment just two weeks into the 1987 film’s production when Stone made an unexpected visit to its trailer.
“Okay, we were finishing the second week of filming and someone knocked on my door. ‘Hi Mike, it’s Oliver. Can I come in?'” Douglas said. What followed, he admitted, caught him completely off guard.
Once inside, Stone asked him if he was okay before bluntly asking him if Douglas was using drugs.
Douglas told the audience he denied it, only for the director to give a scathing assessment of his work. “Because it seems like you’ve never acted before in your life,” Stone told him.
At the time, Douglas explained, he hadn’t been reviewing daily footage of his scenes, something he normally avoids.
He told Stone that he doesn’t watch dailies because he tends to focus on flaws and what might not make it into the final cut.
Still, the trade forced him to reconsider. “So I said, ‘I guess I’d better take a look,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I’d better,’” Douglas recalled.
After reviewing the footage more closely once filming resumed, Douglas felt more reassured than alarmed. He said the performances seemed solid and repeatedly told Stone that he thought the work was solid.
Finally, the director accepted and agreed with his protagonist.
Douglas went on to play Gordon Gekko, the ruthless corporate raider at the center of Wall Street, alongside Charlie Sheen and Daryl Hannah.
Looking back, Douglas said he never took Stone’s harsh words personally, believing them to be part of the director’s process.
“He was willing to let me hate him for the rest of the movie to get that little extra push,” Douglas said. He added that Stone’s history with actors speaks for itself and credited him with pushing the performance further.
“So I deeply appreciate the fact that he gave me a piece and the fact that he took me to another level.”
The result defined his career.
Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role, as well as a Golden Globe and the National Board of Review’s Best Performance Award.
He later returned as Gekko in Stone’s 2010 sequel. Wall Street: money never sleeps.
What began as a moment of doubt and degradation eventually became one of the most celebrated performances of Douglas’s career, proving that even an Oscar-winning role can begin with a knock on the door and a brutal reality check.
