The Hollywood Reporter has a new interview with Michael Douglas, which they’re billing as his first extensive interview since he announced his diagnosis with stage four throat cancer in August. That’s not really the case, as he did plenty of interviews after the news came out, including with People and Parade Magazines and also on Letterman. It is Douglas’ first interview since he completed chemotherapy treatment, though, and the good news is that doctors give him an 80% chance of eliminating the cancer and that he’s making plans to continue working and traveling with his family. He has lost weight as we’ve seen in recent photos, but he’s still able to speak well, he has all his hair, and the interview made it sound like he’s nearly out of the woods. His attitude is very positive and forward-thinking, as we’ve heard in past interviews, and he sounds hopeful while remaining practical. Douglas, 66, denies that he’s at death’s door as the tabloids have been predicting.

The journalist on Douglas’ appearance
The man is fully alive, alert, deeply intelligent and in person nothing whatsoever like the haggard figure that graces the National Enquirer and its kin. He has to sip frequently from a drink to ease the dryness in his mouth, but that distinctive voice is seductive as ever.

True, he has lost weight; and true, he seems a bit frail, as if recuperating from a bad cold — quite a contrast to the dominant figure of Gordon Gekko he resurrected in Wall Street 2 and even to the embattled figure he plays in his other Oscar contender, Solitary Man.

But for someone who has just come through chemotherapy and radiation — “five days a week,” he notes — he’s in remarkably good shape and spirits.

On being grateful
“After all the adversity I’ve had this year,” he says, “with my health and my son’s incarceration, my ex-wife and the lawsuit — to be able to sit here and talk to you, I’m so happy.”

On his ex wife trying to get half his Wall Street 2 Earnings (the suit for which was dismissed)
“I try not to dwell too much on a bad marriage,” Douglas says dryly. “I learned a saying, ‘I wish I got out a little earlier.’ ”

Catherine on Michaels’ strength
“He’s an extremely strong person, and I love that strength of character, coupled with the reality that he’s sensitive, he’s humble, he doesn’t take himself too seriously,” she says. “But predominantly, he’s a very strong man. This has really helped through these last months. He has never lost that strength.”

On his chemo
“The level of chemo, the amount they’re giving you, combined with radiation, was the max they could do in that period of time,” he says. “It’s amazing that they almost have to try and kill you to bring you back.”

On his future plans
He already has started preparing for his next role, the title part in Soderbergh’s Liberace, starts shooting in May or June and which will require special prosthetic work as well as musical training. “I’ve got a bunch of tapes of performances,” Douglas says. “I’m thinking; I’m a blank slate. Everything shows me he was a lovely man; I just want to reconfirm that.”

He’s also planning to take his family on a trip around the world. “They’re at a good age where they’d be old enough to understand it but not be torn away from their peer group,” he notes, then quips, “We just have to make sure we have enough stuff to do so we don’t kill each other!”

On the prognosis for his cancer
Both projects, however, are secondary to restoring his health. In January, Douglas will have a PET scan to learn whether his tumor has been eliminated. The prognosis seems good: Doctors at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have told him there’s an 80 percent cure rate — something he and Zeta-Jones focus on, in contrast to the doom-laden tabloids.

Catherine on the tabloid stories
“I don’t read any of that stuff, regardless of what it says,” Zeta-Jones says. “Where it does affect me, it’s the fact that Michael is sequestered in the apartment. But he really is on the upward curve now.”

On how he deals with his illness
“I haven’t really digested it yet, truth be told,” he says. “As I looked through the stats, I didn’t think of this as life and death; I just saw it as an illness to get over. So I didn’t dig into the bottom of my soul to see what I could see.” He smiles. “It certainly has put a little perspective on mortality, obviously

“I’ve been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support,” he says, choking up for the first time. “Cancer has shown me what family is. It showed me a love that I never knew really existed.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

I’m really glad to hear that Douglas is doing well and that he’s got a lot of love and support at home. He was clear that he didn’t always have the best relationship with his dad, screen legend Kirk Douglas, 93, but said that his cancer has brought them closer together. What a gift it must be to have an active parent in their 90s. We hope that Michael has decades of work ahead of him as well. I know I’m really looking forward to his Liberace biopic with Matt Damon.

Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas are shown at the ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ premiere on 9/20/10. Credit: Fame Pictures

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