Cameron Douglas: a cleft chin and acting chops—must be another Douglas

Interview, Feb, 2003 by Henry Cabot Beck

"I've definitely been in trouble for lots of things, but I don't want to talk about that stuff," says Cameron Douglas, the latest member of the renowned Douglas acting clan to the family business. Like his father Michael and grandfather Kirk, the 24-year-old Cameron has seen his share of tabloid headlines, mostly during his years as a prominent Manhattan-based DJ and purported wild child. And while Douglas still takes the occasional club gig, and is a partner in the progressive house label Safe & Sound, he has more recently been bitten by the acting bug and will make his debut in this month's aptly titled transgenerational dramatic comedy It Runs in the Family with his dad and granddad.

When asked whether he was given advice by his famous forebears, Douglas explains, "They didn't heckle me with a bunch of pointers and stuff like that, but there is one scene in the movie where I have to break down and cry, and my father helped me learn how to leave it at the set and not take it home."

As for grandfather Kirk, Cameron says, "He knows everything about everything, whereas I really don't know anything about anything. Thank God I have some good people around to guide me and help me out."

Henry Cabot Beck is a frequent Interview contributor.