Michael Douglas Felt Being Too Asexual Cost Many American Actors Film Roles to British Stars

Actor Michael Douglas felt British stars were getting more cinema roles than their American counterparts. According to Douglas, social media and sexuality played a part in stagnating many American performers’ careers.

Michael Douglas once shared what he believed held back young American actors

Thanks to his longevity, Douglas has seen how the film industry changed over the years. Recently, Douglas saw a shift where Australian and British actors seemed to be costing American actors film opportunities. The veteran star believed that social media was the source of this issue.

“There’s something going on with young American actors – both men and women – because the Brits and Australians are taking many of the best American roles from them,” Douglas once told The Independent. “Clearly, it breaks down on two fronts. In Britain they take their training seriously while in the States we’re going through a sort of social media image conscious thing rather than formal training.”

According to the Ant-Man star, this focus on social media would also have a negative influence on their craft.

“Many actors are getting caught up in this image thing which is going on to affect their range. With the Aussies, particularly with the males it’s the masculinity. In the U.S. we have this relatively asexual or unisex area with sensitive young men and we don’t have many Channing Tatums or Chris Pratts while the Aussies do. It’s a phenomena,” he said.

Michael Douglas once named the 2 films he did where American roles went to British actors

Douglas had a few examples of his own where he personally saw British actors being offered American roles.

“Wall Street II and Solitary Man, each of which called for a ‘New York City sophisticated 17-19 year old, somewhat spoiled, wealthy girl.’ Once again, we ended up with Imogen Poots and Carey Mulligan, two British actresses playing pretty American roles,” he once told Entertainment Weekly.

But Douglas also confided that this was a testament to how skilled British actors were compared to American stars.

“And also, as young British actors, they know American films are still your worldwide platform, that they have to learn an American accent. So it’s relatively effortless for them. And then they happen to be pretty well-trained, disciplined actors, not concerned about their images as to just playing the role and the part. That’s the best I’ve come up with,” he said.

The Golden Globe-winner further asserted that his theory about young American actors didn’t come from thin air. Rather, it came from sources close to the film industry.

“The issue I hear from casting agents is that young American actors now are very self-conscious of their image,” he said. “So rather than playing truthful and themselves—it might be because of so much cable, so much stuff on the internet—they’re almost kind of capturing an image of what they think they should be, rather than playing it.”

Michael Douglas once named the young American actor that surprised him

Douglas has worked with many young actors during his time on the big screen. But he was pleasantly surprised when he worked alongside star Shia LaBeouf for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. He admitted that he and others initially didn’t have very high hopes for the Even Stevens alum.

“Shia, honestly, we were all not sure about whether he had the chops,” Douglas once told Access Hollywood (via NBC).

But this later changed when he worked with his co-star.

“As you remember from the first, Charlie Sheen carried the movie, Gordon Gekko had very colorful parts, but it was not every scene,” he said. “He knocked it out of the park. I’m so proud of him, he just kicked butt.”