Make Hollywood Horny Again
A week-long celebration of erotic thrillers.
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Michael Douglas likes to tell a story about an early screening of his 1987 hitFatal Attraction.
At this point in the screening, the audience, many of them female, apparently began chuckling.
Whereupon the films producer, Sherry Lansing, leaned over to Douglas and whispered, I cant believe it.
Theyve forgiven you already.
You are blessed with the gift of charm.
As far as leading men were concerned, we were fully in the Age of the Hunk.
Of course, he wasnt really a schlub at all.
But what Douglas did have was harder to quantify.
These impulses played out in layers across his face.
Peel back another and you could see a recovering hippie (which Douglas had been in his youth).
But thats also what keepsBasic Instinctdancing on a knifes edge of uncertainty.
We know she cant possibly be serious about Nick.
Onscreen, however, their energies match perfectly.
The serious look on his face doesnt read as intense, or sexy, or cool.
It reads as stupid; he looksabsurd.
These movies all undercut their male lead in fascinating ways, a key requirement of any self-respecting erotic thriller.
Here was the ultimate boomer avatar: the male ego under siege, both from others and from itself.
But this was Hollywood, and the family had to win out in the end.
And thats where Douglass ordinariness came into play.
What Lansing called charm was perhaps something else: a predictability, a harmlessness.
Which he did, over and over again.
Even when he didnt need to.
But their exchange seems to convince her otherwise.
What do we do now, Nick?
Fuck like minxes, raise rug rats, live happily ever after.
I hate rug rats.
Fuck like minxes, forget the rug rats, and live happily ever after.
The scene is designed for suspense will she or wont she?
Its a pastiche of a happy ending, but itisa happy ending.
The scene wouldnt work if you played it solely for laughs, even though it is hilarious.
It also wouldnt work if you played it solely for drama because its, well, insane.
And that was the nature of Michael Douglass charm.
give a shot to imagine any other actor making that work.
