THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412020093
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Interview
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, D.C. LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
THAT SCENE? Michael Douglas blanches.
``Hey, I've made a few dozen movies over a decade or so,'' he said, ``but the only thing anyone asks about are the three sex scenes I've filmed. There were only three of them.''
He's talking about ``Fatal Attraction'' and ``Basic Instinct,'' but mostly his upcoming tilt with Demi Moore in ``Disclosure.''
It's explicit, said director Barry Levinson, ``as hot as we could possibly be and yet keep everyone's clothes on. You'll note that there is no nudity in this film.''
Many won't notice. In the scene, a pivotal one in Michael Crichton's novel as well as the new movie, powerful new boss Moore orders ambitious executive Douglas to put on a thrill show or lose his job, family and reputation.
But the public's fascination persists: How can such action possibly be photographed without some . . . well, involvement.
``I've talked with my father (Kirk Douglas), who has made more movies than me,'' Douglas said. ``He and I agree that we've never seen an on-camera romance be even relatively sexy. There are just too many things going on. You have maybe 30 people standing around watching. It's all make-believe. Haven't you ever known anyone who faked an orgasm?''
Still, he acknowledged that sex sells movies. ``After all, everyone in the audience has experienced sex in one way or another. You can't say the same about a gunfight.''
Levinson said filming any sex scene is ``tough, tedious work, maybe the worst kind of scene you're required to do. Every movement has to be choreographed. Maybe his hand has to move just a bit. Her head has to be tilted a different way. It's a very nonsexy, task.
``We wanted to show the violence of what this represented. We wanted to do as tough a scene as possible without any nudity. That's the way this film works.''
Author Chrichton said he was afraid Douglas would turn down the part because it is similar to the one he played in ``Fatal Attraction.''
``This was not a role for John Wayne'' Crichton said. ``Michael had to walk a fine line between being vulnerable but never whining too much. It's not an easy part.''
``I'm interested in people involved in moral dilemmas,'' Douglas said. ``I'm not interested in movie heroes, because I don't know any. In my father's movies, there were heroes, but that was another generation of moviegoers. Today, people want movies to be more realistic.''
Douglas said he had met Demi Moore only once, at a convention for theater owners, before they began work on ``Disclosure.''
``She was always away, breast-feeding babies,'' he recalled. ``She has all these children. My first reaction to her was that she had a great, sassy attitude.
``Now, I see her as hard-working and professional - super mom and super actress. When you do a scene like this, you have to protect each other. I know she's gotten a mixed rep in the press, but there was no tension, other than appropriate tension, during this filming.'' ILLUSTRATION: ANDY SCHWARTZ
Paramount Pictures
In ``Fatal Attraction,'' Michael Douglas plays a married man whose
brief affair with Glenn Close gets out of hand.
by CNB