Michael Douglas: Actor receives surprising honor

Michael Douglas (80) experienced a special journey through time at the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on July 5 in the Czech Republic. The Hollywood star had traveled to present a restored version of the classic “One flew over the cuckoo nest” (1975) – and was completely surprised.

It was Douglas’ first return to the picturesque Czech spa town since 1998. At that time he had already received an award from the festival. This time he came as a producer of the Oscar-winning film to appreciate its 50th anniversary.

Douglas showed up on stage as usual and told with a smile that he had only arrived three hours earlier – but had already enjoyed Czech duck and Pilsner Urquell. The audience acknowledged his comments with laughter and applause.

His thanks was particularly moving to his late father Kirk Douglas (1916-2020). “I have to thank my father Kirk to buy the rights to the book,” said Douglas, according to the industry newspaper. “He tried to make a film out of it for years and he couldn’t. When he wanted to sell it, I stepped in and said: ‘Dad, please, please don’t sell it.’ I never thought of becoming a producer, but I loved this project so much. “

After his introductory lecture, Douglas actually wanted to leave the stage – but festival director Kryštof Mucha (50) had a surprise ready. He spontaneously presented the amazed star a new crystal ball statue with the current festival design: a woman who holds up a crystal ball.

The reason for this unusual gesture: Douglas had received the old version of the award in 1998, which, according to Mucha, had the reputation of not being “easy”. The festival director continued to exchange the old one for the more manageable new award.

When Douglas posed in front of a photo with his new statue that showed him in 1998 with the old award, the audience broke out in standing ovation. At a later press conference, the actor commented dryly: “You upgraded me up.”

“One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” wrote film history as a second strip that won all five main categories of the Academy Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Leading Actress, Best Management and Best Adapted Script. Douglas shared the award as a producer with Saul Zaentz (1921-2014), during the Czech-US-American filmmaker Miloš Forman (1932-2018) directed and Jack Nicholson (88) played the leading role.