Michael Douglas Reveals ‘No Real Intentions of Going Back’ to Acting

Michael Douglas has revealed that while he’s not officially retired from acting, he has “no real intentions” of returning to the big screen.

Speaking at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival to present a newly restored print of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest — which he won an Oscar for as a producer on the 1970 classic — the 80-year-old Douglas was asked about his future plans as an actor. 

“I have not worked since 2022 purposefully because I realized I had to stop,” Douglas said (via 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.”

Douglas last appeared on the big screen in 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and starred 2024’s Franklin, an Apple TV+ biographical series about Ben Franklin; both projects finished filming three years ago, and Douglas hasn’t worked in front of the camera since.

The actor did hint at “one little independent movie” he is “trying to get a good script out of,” but besides that project, he has no other plans to return to films, and is “happy to play the wife” to Catherine Zeta-Jones. “I am happy for Catherine to go to work – and she is very busy,” he said.

The topic of Douglas’ future came up after the actor discussed his battle with tongue cancer, with Douglas saying his course of action allowed him another decade of roles. “Stage 4 cancer is not a holiday, but there aren’t many choices, are there? I went with the program, involving chemo and radiation, and was fortunate,” Douglas said, adding that his friend and actor Larry Hagman died from a similar diagnosis. “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.”