Saw this in my Facebook feed today

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Crackpot
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Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2010 2:59 am
Location: Michigan

Saw this in my Facebook feed today

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Michael Douglas considers "Falling Down" (1993) his favorite performance of all the movies he has been in.

In an interview less than a week before the film's release, screenwriter Ebbe Roe Smith gave his interpretation of what the movie was about. "To me, even though the movie deals with complicated urban issues, it really is just about one basic thing: The main character represents the old power structure of the U.S. that has now become archaic, and hopelessly lost. And that way, I guess you could say D-FENS is like Los Angeles. For both of them, it's adjust-or-die time."

Every studio in Hollywood turned down Smith's script, and producer Arnold Kopelson was getting to the stage of considering cable television. Joel Schumacher envisioned his friend Douglas in the lead role. However, Douglas planned to take a break from acting, as he had just done two films back-to-back, and desired to spend some time with his family. Douglas agreed to read the script after Schumacher's urging, and declared it one of the best he had ever read, taking the role immediately. The presence of such a popular actor as the lead allowed the film to get a much higher budget. Douglas, believing the film to be important, agreed to take a much lower salary, so the film could also have more money to be made.

It was Schumacher's idea for the crew cut that Michael Douglas has in this movie. Combined with the glasses Douglas wore, he was almost unrecognizable. Douglas commented on how it helped him get into the character of a veteran of the military or defense industry, "It gave me the feeling of the late 50s and the early 60s, and somehow my character you kinda have the feeling that he came from another time, or he wished or he hoped for another time when things made sense." Douglas would add concerning the character, "There's a lot of people who are a paycheck away from being on the streets and being out of work who did everything right, they've been responsible, they tried hard, [and] they don't know what went wrong! We won the war, where's it all at?"

At the time of its release Douglas's father, actor Kirk Douglas, declared "He played it brilliantly. I think it is his best piece of work to date." He also defended the film against critics who claimed that it glorifies lawbreaking: "Michael's character is not the 'hero' or 'newest urban icon'. He is the villain and the victim. Of course, we see many elements of our society that contributed to his madness. We even pity him. But the movie never condones his actions." (IMDb/Wikipedia)

Happy Birthday, Michael Douglas!
It occurs to me how much D-FENS uncannily mirrors the Trumpers of today
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.

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