For a guy who was widely reported to have once been treated for sex addiction, Michael Douglas has just taken a role that should cut pretty close to the bone. (And shame on you if you added an ‘r’ to the end of that sentence. And then sniggered.)
For Douglas has signed on to star in Solitary as, well, a car magnate who’s addicted to rumpo.
The film, which we’re presuming will be a black comedy, will be directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, from a script by Koppelman. The duo previously directed the Vin Diesel comedy, Knockaround Guys, in 2005, but there’s also a Steven Soderbergh connection a mile wide here. The duo wrote Soderbergh’s next film, The Girlfriend Experience, while Douglas has just agreed to star as Liberace in a biopic that Soderbergh is currently developing.
But back to Solitary. The movie will see Douglas play a former owner of a car dealership chain, whose marriage and career were wrecked by his frequent indiscretions, both romantically and professionally.
And Koppelman and Levien have assembled one hell of a cast around the Oscar-winner, with Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito (reteaming with Douglas for the first time since War Of The Roses) and The Office: An American Workplace’s wonderful Jenna Fischer all currently in talks to co-star.
This sounds distinctly promising, we have to say. From Used Cars to Cadillac Man to Swiss Toni, used car salesmen have been a fertile ground for black comedy – and when he’s on form, there’s nobody better at playing sleazy losers than Douglas.