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Beetlejuice Star Michael Keaton again uses his real name, which happens to be the same as another Hollywood actor.
The 73-year-old has reprised his role as a troublesome ghost and bio-exorcist for his upcoming film Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Director: Tim Burton.
The film, which is set to hit theaters on September 6, is the sequel to Burton’s popular 1988 horror comedy. Beetlejuice. Some of the original cast will return, including Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz and Schitt’s Creek Star Catherine O’Hara as her mother Delia Deetz.
Keaton told People that he chose his name from a phone book when he started out in Hollywood in the 1970s. The Screen Actors Guild prohibits its members from using the same name as another professional actor, and Keaton was forced to drop his birth name as a result.
Now, decades later, he wants to return to his roots.
“I said, ‘Hey, just a heads up, my credits list Michael Keaton Douglas,'” Keaton said of his new film. Knox leaveswhich he directed.
However, he said, “It completely got out of hand. And I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create it.”
He promised: “But it will happen.”
Michael Douglas, 79, is the son of three-time Oscar nominee Kirk Douglas and married to Best Supporting Actress winner Catherine Zeta-Jones. He is known for his roles in Wall-Street (1987)A fateful affair (1987), The War of the Roses (1989), Basic instinct (1992) and Traffic (2000).
Keaton recalls choosing the name that eventually made him famous: “I looked through it – I can’t remember if it was a phone book.”
He continued: “I must have thought, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable.'”
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Keaton has previously spoken out about having the same name as Douglas, telling Terry Wogan in a 1992 interview: “There were already two people in the union named Michael Douglas, I got a job and the contract said no two people could have the same name.”
He said: “I finally met Michael Douglas. He’s actually a good guy.”
But he added: “That’s not even his real name! I’m the only one who has that name. That’s the irony of it.”
Douglas’ father, Issur Danielovitch, was forced to Americanize his surname as part of his assimilation.
