The Big Picture

• Michael Douglas is one of Hollywood's most impressive actors, though his big break in Hollywood didn't come from acting.
• The Franklin star competed with his father, Kirk Douglas, over who would make One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest swept at the Oscars, earning Michael Douglas an Oscar for producing.

Michael Douglas is an actor who truly fits the definition of "living legend". He's had a long and prolific career, including an Academy Award-winning turn in Wall Street. But Wall Street wasn't the only time Douglas took home an Oscar. At the 48th Academy Awards in 1976, Douglas took home the award for Best Picture for his role in producing One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. The Jack Nicholson-led psychodrama had a "clean sweep" at the 1976 ceremony, meaning it picked up awards in the five biggest categories of the night: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Douglas may not have starred in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, but he did play a major role in getting it to the big screen.

Michael Douglas Produced 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'

Douglas first became involved with One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest early in his life; his father Kirk Douglas purchased the rights to Ken Kesey's novel and intended to turn it into a Broadway play. In a bit of an ironic twist, Nicholson had also wanted to purchase the rights until he was outbid by the elder Douglas. Douglas himself grew attached to Cuckoo's Nest while he was in college, especially as he was involved with student activism while studying at the University of California. "It was a great book. And I remember loving it and thinking, 'Wow, this is... what a wonderful story,'" Douglas told Scott Feinberg while guesting on The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast. He eventually convinced his father to take a crack at producing his own take on Cuckoo's Nest. "Okay give me a year, let me run with it...I'll try to do the whole thing, get a production together and all of that." The elder Douglas wound up letting his son take a crack at the material.

But even though Michael Douglas had the rights to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, he ran into a few issues getting off the ground. First and foremost was finding a director. Douglas originally wanted Richard Rush to direct, but couldn't secure the necessary funds. This led to Saul Zaentz boarding as a producer. Miloš Forman finally coming on-board to direct after Douglas & Zaentz watched The Fireman's Ball. "The Firemen’s Ball had the sort of qualities we were looking for: it took place in one enclosed situation, with a plethora of unique characters he had the ability to juggle," Douglas recalled during an interview with The Guardian.

Forman had his own personal reasons for accepting the job, as he felt that One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest paralleled the hardships he underwent in his homeland of Czechoslovakia. "To me, [the story] was not just literature, but real life, the life I lived in Czechoslovakia from my birth in 1932 until 1968. The Communist Party was my Nurse Ratched, telling me what I could and could not do; what I was or was not allowed to say; where I was and was not allowed to go; even who I was and was not," Forman said during a 2012 interview with the New York Times.

'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest's Author Sued Michael Douglas

Douglas and Saentz ran into some legal issues while trying to get One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest off the ground. Zaentz had originally sought out Kesey to write the film, as he felt that it could bring a level of authenticity to the film adaptation. Though he'd worked on early drafts of the script, Kesey wound up suing the production due to creative differences. "It was our only longstanding, painful issue. We got in to a financial dispute – it was silly, but maybe it was his way of defending his ego," Douglas would say when discussing the incident with the Guardian. Eventually, the lawsuit was settled out of court and filming continued. Kesey never saw the film version of Cuckoo's Nest in full, but disliked what he saw, according to Fight Club author Chuck Palahnuik, who wrote a foreword for Cuckoo Nest's deluxe edition: "The first time I heard this story, it was through the movie starring Jack Nicholson. A movie that Kesey once told me he disliked."

'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' Earned Its Oscars & Kicked Off Douglas' Hollywood Career

Due to his role as a producer, Douglas took home the Best Picture Award for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest in 1976. Cuckoo's Nest remains a rare breed of film, as it is one of only three entries in the Academy Awards to take home the top five awards. It more than earned those awards, as Forman and Nicholson deliver a stirring tale that captures the spirit of the original novel. Nicholson, in particular, commands the screen every time he appears as Randal McMurphy; his chaotic presence is the perfect foil for Louise Fletcher's icy Nurse Ratched. The rest of the cast is stacked full of excellent performances, including Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd.

Douglas' career skyrocketed afterward, as he starred in a number of iconic films, beginning with Romancing the Stone and its sequel Jewel of the Nile (which he also produced). He also made the erotic thriller a popular genre with the double-header of Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction. Douglas' choice to produce One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is a strong example of how there's more than one path to Oscar gold. "They thought I was crazy to lead this hugely successful shot...I mean, that would never happy today, by the way," he said during Awards Chatter. But perhaps Douglas' bold swing should be less of an exception and more of a rule for Hollywood.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is available to rent from Prime Video in the U.S.

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