Michael Keaton is planning to go back to using his original last name, which happens to be the same as another Hollywood A-lister.
While promoting this latest film, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the 73-year-old Emmy Award winner shared that he wanted to be recognized as Michael Douglas, the moniker he was born with — not the one he was forced to use professionally.
Keaton revealed that when he was starting out in showbiz during the 1970s, he had picked his surname out of a phone book because the Screen Actors Guild labor union prohibits members from using the same name as another professional actor.
“I must’ve gone, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something here.’ And I went, ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable,’” he told People.
Michael Douglas, known for roles such as “Fatal Attraction,” “Wall Street” and “Basic Instinct,” has an acting career that dates back to 1969.
The “Birdman” star is now making inroads to make that change, which he tried to initiate during the filming of his last movie, “Knox Goes Away.”
“I said, ‘Hey, just as a warning, my credit is going to be Michael Keaton Douglas.’ It totally got away from me. And I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create that,” Keaton explained.
“But that will happen,” he assured.