Say his (new) name three times.
Michael Keaton, whose real name is Michael John Douglas, announced in a new interview with People that he wants to be called Michael Keaton Douglas from now on, after coming up with a stage name over 50 years ago.
The “Beetlejuice” star said he had planned to begin the name change while directing and starring in the 2023 film “Knox Goes Away,” but he “forgot” to make it official.
“I said, ‘Hey, just a heads up, my credits list Michael Keaton as Douglas,'” Keaton said in the interview published Wednesday.
“But it completely got away from me,” he explained. “And I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create it. But that will happen.”
When Keaton started in Hollywood in the 1970s, he was unable to use his birth name because of Screen Actors Guild regulations prohibiting actors from using the same name.
Michael Douglas, famous for his roles in “Wall Street” and “On the Loose,” was already part of the SAG, as was singer and talk show host Mike Douglas.
So Keaton had to come up with a stage name to stay in business.
“I looked through it — I don’t remember if it was a phone book,” he recalled to People. “I must have thought, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something here.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable.'”
Keaton had already spoken about the drama surrounding his name during an appearance on the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in 2017.
“I got a job. I was just starting out and I got this job, and thanks to the union, there was Mike Douglas, who used to have a talk show, and Michael Douglas, the movie star and actor,” Keaton explained. “Someone said, ‘You have to change your name.’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to change my name. I’m very proud of my name.'”
“By the way,” added the “Birdman” star, “I’m trying to slowly bring my name back into consciousness because I’m proud of my name.”
“So I changed my name. The crazy thing is, I used my real name, Michael John Douglas, for everything except on a stage or performing. People get very confused. We’d drive somewhere and there’d be a driver with a sign that said Michael Douglas – and then I’d show up,” Keaton said, laughing. “And they look so confused.”
Keaton said he now “doesn’t bother” explaining his name change to people. “It’s kind of fun for me to watch them say, ‘Wait a minute, who is he?'”