Michael Douglas to star in Racing the Monsoon

When did Michael Douglas get so serious? Remember Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile? Fantastic fun films. Yet Douglas hasn’t returned to that kind of fun film for some time, and he was so good at it, those movies are great entertainment.

Coming Soon have the story from The Hollywood Reporter that he is to star in a movie called Racing the Monsoon, which is to follow in the vein of these two films. As the title suggests it is set in India, and Douglas is reported to be out there scouting around for locations, as well as courting (and I mean that in a Business sense) Indian stars.

Michael Douglas said Monday in Mumbai that he will co-produce and appear in Racing the Monsoon, set to be shot entirely in India. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Douglas is there on a scouting expedition for the adventure film, slated to begin production early next year. Douglas also said the project will be the first U.S./Indian feature co-production…’Racing the Monsoon’ will be on the lines of ‘Romancing the Stone’ and ‘Jewel of the Nile,’ “Douglas said.”Right now, we are developing the screenplay and hope to begin production in early 2006.”

Douglas said he was in talks with actress Aishwarya Rai (Bride and Prejudice) for the female lead and that the film will have a large number of Indian actors.

Hollywood and Bollywood are mixing quite well nowadays, and this is just another step towards it. I would like to think this is a growing trend away from merely remaking someone else’s movie to collaborations on remakes and new projects between Hollywood and foreign production houses.

All that aside, is Douglas still up for this kind of movie? I mean look at how young he is in this picture.