Beetlejuice Beetlejuice star Michael Keaton reveals why he changed his name in Hollywood ( Photo Credit – YouTube )
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Michael Keaton has been a Hollywood heavyweight and household name for nearly four decades. Incidentally, the last name ‘Keaton’ isn’t directly related to the actor-filmmaker’s family; instead it’s a stage name he adopted early in his career. The Batman actor, who once again donned the costume of DC’s iconic Caped Crusader in last year’s The Flash, is currently in the buzz for reprising his role as the an afterlife entity in the horror-comedy Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
While Tim Burton’s sequel to his 1988 classic is already making waves at the box office, grossing over $111 million within its North American opening weekend, the cast and crew have also been spilling numerous behind-the-scenes stories related to their careers and the experience they all had working on the comedy. One such trivia dates back to the 1970s and reveals how a SAG (Screen Actors Guild) rule had the Birdman actor significantly change his professional name.
In an interview with People Magazine, Michael Keaton opened up about the time he began working in the industry and how he couldn’t use his real name. Born as Michael John Douglas, the veteran actor had to adhere to the SAG rule that prohibits actors from using a registered name. The established actor Michael Douglas and popular talk show host Mike Douglas had already claimed the more obvious variations of his name, leaving Keaton no choice but to come up with an alternative.
Though he didn’t address the fellow SAG actors, the Spider-Man: Homecoming star shared the experience of picking his surname from a telephone directory, recalling, “I was looking through—I can’t remember if it was a phone book,” before adding, “that sounds reasonable.”
Michael Douglas, the son of legendary Golden Age star Kirk Douglas, had solidified his place in Hollywood by the 1980s, and was confirmed to carry on the legacy of his family. In fact, the same year Beetlejuice came out, the Ant-Man star won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his outing in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street and soon appeared in the iconic erotic thrillers, Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct. Around this time, Keaton had started to gain stardom and winning the hearts of viewers himself. He collaborated with Beetlejuice director Tim Burton for two blockbuster Batman films, and thus embraced his stage name without resistance.
Keaton also hinted that in upcoming projects, he might consider being credited as Michael Keaton Douglas, a blend of his birth name and the stage name he’s used throughout his career. “Just a heads-up, my credit is going to be Michael Keaton Douglas,” the 73-year-old star joked, explaining that the change has been delayed but might still happen sometime in the future. It should be noted that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice retains ‘Michael Keaton’ as the actor’s credited name.
