Michael Douglas is one of the most well-known actors in Hollywood. Having gained prominence with his role in the ABC series The Streets of San Francisco, the actor went on to star in several movies and series. After acquiring the rights to the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest from his father, he produced the eponymous film and won his first Academy Award for it as well.
The Basic Instinct actor refused to work with one actress, none other than 1987’s Black Widow star Debra Winger. In a recent interview, he revealed why he refused to star with the actress in one of his most successful movies.
Debra Winger Bit Michael Douglas’ Arm as a Joke
Michael Douglas starred alongside Kathleen Turner in the 1984 action-adventure rom-com Romancing the Stone. The movie was a commercial hit with a worldwide gross of $115 million, which made it the sixth-highest-grossing movie of the year. It also has a critic score of 86% on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
Douglas plays the role of a daring bird hunter, Jack Colton, who helps a lonely romance novelist, Joan Wilder on her journey through the Colombian jungle to find and save her sister whom criminals are holding for ransom.
The studio’s first choice for the role of Joan Wilder was Debra Winger. Reportedly, the movie’s director Robert Zemeckis, and the Wall Street star visited Singer in Texas, where she was shooting the movie Terms of Endearment.
In a recent interview on Rob Lowe’s podcast Literally!, Douglas claimed that the meeting was going well until Winger bit him in the arm literally as a joke. Recounting the incident, he said:
“We walk out and, just as you would kind of go, ‘Oh you!’ and give someone a little punch in the arm, you know, like a joke-around, she goes, ‘Oh you!’ and she reaches over and she bites me on my arm.”
Douglas claimed that the bite was so strong that he actually screamed. This incident led the actor to decide he didn’t want to star with Winger in Romancing the Stone.
Michael Douglas Refused to Work With Debra Winger
This rather shocking mishap of the Rachel Getting Married actress biting Douglas in the arm was a good enough reason for the latter to refuse to work with her. He might not have reacted this way if she had not done any real harm, but he claimed that Winger had not “broken the skin”, saying:
“She’s like jokey and I’m looking at her, ‘I don’t know, man…’ I’m thinking ‘this could be rough’ and she seems interested and I go back and she’s broken the skin.”
Eventually, when he met with the studio, he said he “broke down in tears” and told the executives:
“I can’t go to the jungle with her — she bit me in the arm!’ I can’t do it!’”
The executives considered the Ant-Man star’s request and did not cast Winger. This made the role open to Kathleen Turner who won a Golden Globe award for her performance in the movie.
Romancing the Stone is available for streaming on Apple TV+.
