MICHAEL Douglas talked up Bermuda almost as much as his new movie during the actor's media charm offensive to promote the Secret Service thriller .

Two-time Academy Award winner Douglas discussed the island, its traditions and the quiet family life he enjoys here with movie star wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and their children in a slew of promotional interviews in the days leading up to the release of , which opened in North American theatres last Friday

The Hollywood power couple bought a historic two-storey Warwick homestead on a 2.2-acre property in 2001 and have raised their young family there largely out of the glare of the publicity spotlight.

In an interview with the conducted the day before Good Friday, the actor / producer seemed more concerned about retrieving his son's errant kite than in discussing Hollywood wheeling and dealing with staff writer Susan King.

"Michael Douglas has been missing in action from the big screen for the last three years," wrote King. "The reason for the absence wasn't because he was licking his wounds from the poor reception for his last movie, the ill-advised remake of the comedy. The 61-year-old Oscar-winning actor / producer has been happily playing the role of dad to his two children with second wife Catherine Zeta-Jones: five-year-old son Dylan and three-year-old daughter Carys.

"I lucked out," Douglas said over the phone from Bermuda, where he had spent the afternoon flying a kite with his son. "I just lucked out. You clearly change your priorities one day. I got a lovely wife and a second time around. I never thought I would start another family. I can't find much reason to go to work in place of spending time with them. It is all selfish; it is just a joy, like today."

"Even though Douglas lost his son's kite, 'I was so careful', he said. 'I kept telling him, 'Don't lose the handle' ? and, of course, I lost the handle. The kite went up and the handle got caught up in a palm tree."

Douglas, who has a 27-year-old son from his first marriage, said he always encourages people to get their careers going before they have children. "Ambition is a healthy drive to have," he said. "Generally, in our business, you can't really balance your family and your career. One takes priority and that's OK. But I think you have to know that."

During his self-imposed hiatus, Douglas' production company was developing projects for the actor and he was evaluating scripts that were being sent to him. When he was ready to return to work, he chose the political thriller .

Douglas plays Peter Garrison, a veteran Secret Service agent who saved President Reagan's life by jumping in front of the barrage of bullets during the assassination attempt in 1981. Years later, Garrison has the prime assignment of guarding the first lady (Kim Basinger) ? with whom, it happens, he is having an affair.

In the midst of his daily routine, a fellow agent (played by the film's director, Clark Johnson) is murdered shortly after telling Garrison he has secret information to share. The secret is that one of the agents assigned to the presidential detail is involved in a plot to assassinate the president (David Rasche) ? the first time there is a traitor in the Secret Service's 141-year history. Through a series of circumstances, Garrison discovers he's being framed as the traitor.

"On the phone, the actor seemed more eager to talk about his plans for the family for the following day ? Good Friday (than his new movie)," reported King. "Friday is Kite Day here," he said. "I've got a lot of family down here and we have a kite party. There are kite parties all over the place. You stand up on a hill and you see hundreds and hundreds of kites all up and down the island. It's stunning."

In a separate interview with Mike Goodridge of , Douglas said at this stage in his life he would "rather be a super dad than a superstar".

"There was a time in the late 1980s and early '90s when Michael Douglas was the king of Hollywood," wrote Goodridge. "Devoted to his career, he pushed the limits of popular cinema with provocative blockbusters such as, and , won an Oscar forand commanded $15 million a movie.

"Then in walked Catherine Zeta-Jones and everything changed. When the two married in 2000, Douglas, the once-vital force in movies, virtually disappeared from screens.

"I probably care a whole lot less about roles now because I'm happily married," he says. "I've got two lovely children, as opposed to somebody maybe of my age who was alone and their career was the only thing in front of them. My priorities have clearly changed because family comes first, which I could never say earlier in my career.

"The family spend most of their time away from Hollywood, mainly at their home in Bermuda. While his wife hasn't stopped working (), Douglas took a three-year break before accepting a role in , a political thriller that marks his return to major movies.

"I haven't really done anything apart from raising our family," he says.

Douglas, whose father is the legendary Hollywood icon Kirk Douglas, has local roots through his Bermudian mother, actress Diana Dill. His parents divorced when he was six, and he went to live with his mother and her new husband, the late writer Bill Darrid. He often spent summers in Bermuda as a child and young man, staying at the Dill-owned cottage colony Ariel Sands on South Shore.

Douglas now owns a stake in Ariel Sands and is spearheading the property's multi-million-dollar redevelopment into a hotel / condominium complex.

Last month Douglas appeared at the Bermuda International Film Festival screening of his 1993 film and then took part in a lengthy question-and-answer session with the audience on this well-received fable of middle-class despair.