Hollywood icon growing old gracefully

LOS ANGELES, (AFP) - Superstar actors and athletes both know they must make adjustments when their skills and body begin to age. Michael Douglas, who's been a movie star in four consecutive decades, knows his new film "King Of California", released this month, in some ways represents the end of his film career as a popular romantic leading man.

While a pair of his peers, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis, have recently reprised their action roles in another "Rocky" and "Die Hard" film, Douglas doesn't have one of those franchise parts to repeat."'King Of California' is an independent film where I play a mentally disturbed person who reunites with his teenage daughter and attempts to enlist her help in looking for treasure he believes is buried under a department store," explains the actor-producer who starred in and guided such international hits as "Romancing The Stone," "Fatal Attraction" and "Basic Instinct."Married to Oscar-winning actress ("Chicago") Catherine Zeta-Jones, with whom he shares a birthday, the son of legendary filmmaker Kirk Douglas turned 63 on Tuesday.

Though Douglas hasn't had a huge hit movie since 2001 thriller "Don't Say A Word," he remains the only person in history to have won Academy Awards for acting (Best Actor in Oliver Stone's "Wall Street") and producing (1975's Best Picture "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"). Douglas is accepting his cinematic evolution gracefully.

"I'm a big sports fan, so I know that Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali weren't going to be able to perform at their exceptional skill level forever. They probably stayed in their sports longer than they should have," he said. "That's why when I made 'The Sentinel' I made sure my Secret Service character was seen huffing and puffing as he tried to catch up to a suspect.

I've actually enjoyed doing a character part in 'King Of California,' because I can't fall back on the acting tricks I've mastered as a leading man."Douglas laughs warmly, and grins before adding, "My wife hates the beard that I wear in 'King Of California.' She doesn't enjoy having this weird character roaming around our house!"With Hollywood seemingly stuck in sequel and remake mode (evidenced by the fact that the new Nicole Kidman movie "Invasion" is the third remake of the classic Don Siegel-directed "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers") Douglas is having difficulty finding projects to produce that evoke his passion.

"Movies I made like 'Falling Down' and 'The China Syndrome,' both of which were big hits that also got discussed on the editorial pages of newspapers, were hard to get made in their time but are impossible to even pitch to an executive today," he says.

"With the possible exception of 'Romancing The Stone,' which is the type of romantic comedy adventure that always plays well to audiences, I can't imagine a single one of my big hits being made today if I brought them to a studio as an original project. "Now that I think about it, a new and young Michael Douglas would probably be unemployed today and for the rest of the decade.

"You gotta understand -- today's studio film executives don't acknowledge any movie made before 'The Matrix!'"Is there any kind of movie he'd love to make today? The affable actor doesn't hesitate with his reply. "One that allows my family to play my family on screen, and for me to be the world's greatest golfer," he says. "That would combine my dreams in fantasy and reality!"