Michael Douglas is enjoying his time away from Hollywood.
The Oscar winner, 80, spoke at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic on Saturday and confirmed he has current no plans to act again.
“I made the choice to stop working after 2022 on purpose because I realized it was time to pause,” he told Variety. “For almost six decades, I’ve been working hard, and I didn’t want to be someone who suddenly passed away on set.”
“Returning to work isn’t really on my agenda,” Douglas added. “I don’t say I’m retired because if something extraordinary pops up, I’m open to it, but otherwise, no.”
Douglas last acted as Benjamin Franklin in the 2024 Apple TV+ miniseries “Franklin.”
The “One Who Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest” producer also spoke about how his throat cancer diagnosis impacted his acting career.
“Dealing with stage 4 cancer is far from a vacation, but the options are quite limited, aren’t they?” he explained. “I followed the plan, which involved chemotherapy and radiation, and I was fortunate. Surgery would have meant losing my ability to speak and removing part of my jaw, which would have greatly hindered my career as an actor.”
Douglas added that he has “one little independent movie” that he’s “trying to get a good script out of,” but “in the spirit of maintaining a good marriage” he’s “happy to play the wife” to his spouse Catherine Zeta-Jones for the time being.
In May, Douglas, who runs the independent production Further Films, told Deadline that he he doesn’t miss being in front of the camera.
“I’m enjoying my hiatus and enjoying my life,” he shared. “It was overwhelming running the production company and acting at the same time.”
“If something good comes up that I really like. But I don’t feel a burning desire,” Douglas added of returning to acting. “I’m still producing. I still love bringing people together.”
Douglas also shut down the possibility of doing another Marvel movie after starring as Hank Pym in the “Ant-Man” trilogy and “Avengers: Endgame.”
“I don’t think so. I had the experience, and I was excited to do it,” Douglas stated. “I’d never done a green screen picture before.”
Zeta-Jones, whom Douglas has been married to since 2000, confirmed last year she was stepping away from mainstream Hollywood and instead focusing on indie projects.
“I want to turn up. I want to do some interesting work,” the 55-year-old “Wednesday” star said at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“t goes back to my theater thinking, because I don’t feel I have to prove anything to anybody,” she added. “I don’t have to work hard for other people.”
