While presenting a restored print of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Michael Douglas used the Karlovy Vary Film Festival stage to express deep concerns over democracy in the U.S., calling out political corruption and the dangers of autocracy under the Trump era.
Renowned actor and producer Michael Douglas, attending the Karlovy Vary Film Festival to present a restored version of Miloš Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, used the platform to express growing concerns about the current state of democracy in the United States under Donald Trump. Speaking during a press conference, the Oscar-winner warned that the nation was “flirting with autocracy,” and that politics in America has become a profit-driven enterprise, eroding democratic ideals.
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Michael Douglas, one of Hollywood’s most respected voices, delivered an impassioned reflection on the state of democracy in the United States while in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. At the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where he presented a newly restored print of Miloš Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Douglas used the occasion to speak candidly about the political crisis he sees unfolding in his homeland.
“I look at it generally as the fact of how precious democracy is, of how vulnerable it is and how it always has to be protected,” Douglas said during a press conference. “I hope that what we’re struggling with right now is a reminder of all the hard work the Czechs did in gaining their freedom and independence.”
Douglas voiced frustration with how money has infiltrated American politics, saying, “Politics now seem to be for profit. Money has entered democracy as a profit centre. People are going into politics now to make money. We maintained an ideal, an idealism in the U.S., which does not exist now.”
Preferring not to elaborate too much, Douglas added, “I myself am worried, I am nervous, and I think it’s all of our responsibility to look out for ourselves. The news speaks for itself.”
Douglas was in town to honor Forman’s Oscar-winning classic, which had strong historical and cultural ties to Czechoslovakia. Forman, who fled the Communist regime, became a loyal supporter of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, which was still in its infancy when Cuckoo’s Nest first screened there. Douglas, who produced the original 1975 film alongside Saul Zaentz, was joined at the festival by Zaentz’s nephew and producer Paul Zaentz, as well as Forman’s family members.
“The festival was just beginning when we first came here,” Douglas recalled. “Miloš felt it was important to be here for his country. I remember we had a good time, it’s a charming, charming town. It’s highly unusual to be supporting and honoring a movie from 50 years ago.”
Douglas also reflected on the legendary 1976 Academy Awards Best Picture lineup, which included Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Barry Lyndon, and Nashville. “I ask you, in the last 20 years, has there ever been anywhere near that kind of quality of movies there?”
Zaentz, meanwhile, revealed plans to adapt Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest into a television series, this time told from the perspective of Chief Bromden — a character marginalized in the film adaptation. “At the end of the first series, the Jack Nicholson character would die. The second year would follow what happens to the Chief after he escapes.”
Zaentz is also developing a project titled Backyard Desert, based on an off-Broadway play about four U.S. border agents who encounter a dying Mexican immigrant. “They realize these are real people escaping terrible situations,” he said, “who deserve to be respected, not thrown into concentration camps in the Everglades.”
Additionally, he is working on a series adaptation of The English Patient, although the current script — based on elements from the original novel that didn’t make it into the film — is considered too expensive for streaming platforms. “We’re rewriting it now,” he confirmed.
Beyond politics and legacy, Douglas also spoke about his personal journey — specifically his battle with stage 4 throat cancer. “Stage 4 cancer is not a holiday,” he said. “I went with the program involving chemo and radiation and was fortunate. The surgery would have meant not being able to talk and removing part of my jaw.”
Douglas shared that he hasn’t worked since 2022 by choice. “I had been working hard for almost 60 years, and I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set. I say I’m not retired, because if something special came up, I’d go back, but otherwise, no.”
He mentioned he’s loosely attached to an indie film in early development but emphasized that his priority right now is his family. “In the spirit of maintaining a good marriage,” he said with a smile, “I’m happy to play the wife.”