Michael Douglas: Not falling down

IT'S BEEN A MIXED 12 months for Michael Douglas. Professionally, there was a triumphant return to the screen for the veteran actor-producer after recovering from what he announced was throat cancer. His exuberant-yet-poignant turn as the gauche, gay pianist Liberace in Steven Soderbergh's biopic Behind the Candelabra has seen him nominated for a Golden Globe.

Personally, it's been more difficult after separating from his wife of 13 years, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. He's also continuing to deal with the pain of seeing his eldest son, Cameron - from his first marriage - "incarcerated in federal prison", as he puts it, serving a 10-year sentence for drug dealing and possession. Never one for hyperbole, he simply nods, "There's been a few things going on."

Earlier this year, Douglas said he had tongue cancer, but - on the advice of his physician - told the press he was suffering from cancer of the throat, to avoid any awkward questions about possible disfigurement the illness might cause. Still, that was nothing compared to the hullabaloo that arose after Douglas said in a British newspaper interview that his cancer was caused by HPV (human papillomavirus), an STD that could be spread through oral sex. Today, the 69 year-old Douglas looks fighting fit - far removed from the paparazzi shots of him as a gaunt figure left weak by the chemotherapy. Dressed in a navy shirt and charcoal suit, his cheeks flushed with colour, everything from that infamous cleft in his chin (inherited from his actor-father Kirk Douglas) to that distinct mane of swept-back hair - now a rich silvery hue - is as you remember it. If Douglas is past his prime, nobody told his DNA.

Ageing is very much a part of his new film Last Vegas, a breezy comedy about four old (and we mean old) friends reuniting for a bachelor party for one of their number. Think The Hangover meets Cocoon and you're some way towards describing it - although neither of those films featured the calibre of actors in Last Vegas; co-starring Kevin Kline, Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman, together they have six Oscars between them.

Douglas plays Billy, a wealthy Malibu lawyer who is marrying a young woman half his age. "Billy is the charming, cavalier guy who never grew up," says Douglas. "He's a successful attorney who has been having a pretty good time his entire life and never bothered to get married. He's at the funeral of his senior partner and that death becomes his wake-up call. Mortality just kicked in and he decides to spring the question on his girlfriend."

Keen to celebrate with one big blowout in Vegas, he sets out to round up his old friends from his youth: Sam (Kevin Kline), who has taken early retirement in Florida, stroke survivor Archie (Morgan Freeman), living with his overly-protective son in New Jersey; and Brooklyn-based Paddy (Robert De Niro), still mourning the death of his wife - and still angry at Billy for not turning up to the funeral.