Douglas on the Hollywood greats:

Actress Jean Simmons: "Tony Curtis was a food friend of my father and he was married to Janet Leigh at the time and they used to be over at the house a lot. Also Frank Sinatra. I remember them visiting and asking who is the hottest actress, who is inherently sexy. The guys were talking and I was, like, listening. Everyone concurred that Jean Simmons, who was in Spartacus, was considered the sexiest actress."

Actor and director Danny DeVito: "Danny is one of my oldest buddies. He and I were roommates in New York when we were both starting together. Danny is very detailed, very fixated on the look of his films."

Actor Jack Nicholson: "Jack Nicholson is one of my best friends and although I produced (One Flew Over The) Cuckoo's Nest I have never had a chance to work with him."

Actor Albert Finney: My favourite actor is Albert Finney. Steven Soderbergh played a wonderful trick on me and gave him a small part in Traffic."

Director Robert Zemeckis: "I offered to him Romancing the Stone and he got a new career and I think you have heard of him since."

Actress Glenn Close: "We had to go and persuade her to re-shoot the ending (of Fatal Attraction). We have had a lot of discussions about that since. She was wonderful in it."

Director Oliver Stone: "I think Oliver should get a lot of credit. You look at every film he's done, probably every actor has given his best performance. He, as a director, is not afraid to push you. He's not afraid to be adversarial."

His wife, actress Catherine Zeta Jones: "I do a lot of pictures where I'm in every single scene. My wife is doing it now for the first time and I'm smiling, like 'uh huh'. As far as working with Catherine, I would love to. But I think there is a lack of interest in couples on the screen. My wife is an accomplished actress and she's a lot younger than I am. She's going to have her time in the spotlight."

Director Milos Forman: "Milos came out and he opened the script (for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, which Douglas produced) and he started at the first page and he talked us through how he saw the movie. Every picture I have done, I have forced the director to talk through the picture."

Director and actor Richard Attenborough: "He's a lovely, lovely man. A great actor. I consider him a dear friend and I enjoy his brother's work too, his brother's documentary work."

Director Ridley Scott: "He's an extraordinary visionary. He sees it and he knows. We got along very well and I like that movie (Black Rain) a lot."

Actress Jodie Foster: "She was supposed to be in The Game. She wanted to play my daughter. I said 'no, play my younger sister!'."

Director Steven Soderbergh: "Very kind of understated and a joy to work with."

Actress Kathleen Turner: "(The War of the Roses) was the third picture I had done with Kathleen. I know why so many, in the old days, actors and actresses worked together again and again. There's that comfort factor when you don't have to go through the introductions anymore. I think that really helped a lot."

His father, actor Kirk Douglas: "I'm so proud of my father. My father is going to be 90 in December. It's a lost generation, that whole World War Two generation."

Douglas on his films:

Falling Down (1993): "It (the script) came to me and I loved it. The Cold War was over, all these people in the defence industry were given their punch slips. I was feeling for a lot of these guys who were patriots and did all the right things for their country and then we said 'thank you very much, we don't need you anymore'. The haircut scared me!"

Romancing The Stone (1984): "That turned out to be a nightmare shoot in Mexico. At that time the idea of doing comedy, romance and action was unheard of. You can't do it."

Fatal Attraction (1987): "It was a theme that I felt very strongly about which is how uncomfortable the sexes really are with each other. It just turned out to be great. I loved that picture. It was one of Glenn Close's finest performances. We did have to change the ending."

Wall Street (1987): "Getting the commercial success of Fatal Attraction and getting the Oscar for Wall Street changed my life. It got me out of the shadow of my father."

Basic Instinct (1992): "We just felt the need to do a rip-snort, heavy duty, pant movie!"

Wonder Boys (2000): "Wonder Boys was a great combination of a good script, a director I really wanted to work with, a great cast."