The actor who reminds Michael Douglas of Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn: “I’m a big fan”

Posted On March 5, 2025March 5, 2025

As the son of actors Kirk and Diana, Michael Douglas was always destined for great things. He started acting in the late 1960s before finding success in the 1980s through films like Romancing the Stone, Basic Instinct, and Wall Street. Modern audiences will know him as Dr Hank Pym from the ‘Ant-Man’ branch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he recently appeared as Benjamin Franklin in the Apple TV+ miniseries Franklin. 

One of Douglas’ earliest successes came not as an actor but as a producer. He helped make the seminal 1975 psychological thriller One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and, as a result, won the ‘Best Picture’ gong at the Academy Awards. This also put him in touch with Jack Nicholson, who also won an Oscar for his role as mental patient RP McMurphy. He famously beat Douglas’ own father to the part. 

Another Oscar-winner Douglas has worked alongside is Sean Penn. The two appeared together in David Fincher’s middling film The Game, in which they played a pair of brothers. These two figures would recur to Douglas in a very odd way on the set of the 2000 movie Traffic. One of his many co-stars was Benicio del Toro, who plays a Mexican police officer embroiled in the country’s battle against the illegal drug trade. When the two stars sat down with Variety many years later as part of their ‘Actors on Actors’ series, the older performer was quick to heap praise on his younger colleague.

“I’m a big fan. I’m always interested in you, because you remind me of both Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn,” he told del Toro. “You’re able to bring an audience in with your own sense of pacing and time.” He then asked the Puerto Rican if he was aware of the pace of a scene whilst he was in it. “Every time I act, I always feel like I’m rushing,” del Toro admitted. “I’ve had a few directors say to me, ‘Take your time.’ So now when I work, I keep hearing the echo of these directors. And maybe even from acting class.”

Though they technically starred in the same film, the nature of Traffic, directed by Steven Soderbergh, kept Douglas and del Toro apart. The story was split into three parts: one in Mexico, one in Ohio, and one in California. Douglas’ character, a right-wing judge helping the government fight its War on Drugs, is based in the US, where he must balance his political ambitions with his daughter’s worsening addiction issues.  

“There were a couple scenes that never made it into the movie,” del Toro revealed. “I remember we were shooting downtown, and I drove to Westwood, where I was living. As I got there, the phone rang. It was Steven Soderbergh, the director. ‘Where are you?! We have the scene with Michael!’ It was my first scene with you, and I was dying.” Ironically, del Toro was delayed when he hit actual traffic, but according to him, Douglas was very understanding.

Del Toro was awarded ‘Best Supporting Actor’ at the Oscars for his performance as Javier Rodríguez Rodríguez, but in a way, praise from someone of Douglas’ standing is far more valuable. To be compared to two greats by someone who is considered great is a dream come true for any actor. If only there was a way to turn that into some sort of statue.

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