The Hollywood couple have been spending their summers in Mallorca for years and more specifically in a mansion located between Valldemossa, the beautiful town that Chopin fell in love with, and Deià, a town with a magnificent charm. The s'Estaca estate, now enjoyed by the Douglas family, was owned by Archduke Luis Salvador and built in the mid-19th century.
The mansion has ten bedrooms, all of them with an interior bathroom, fireplace and minibar; a terrace opens to the sea that is a bird's eye view point, a pavilion for guests, a spacious kitchen-dining room, a library, a cinema, a swimming pool and a series of terraces that rise between terraces and that are perfect for dinners in the summer. In addition, it houses seven independent buildings and an ecological garden. This month, Michael Douglas comes back to TV with the show ‘Franklin’, based on the book by Pulitzer Prize winner Stacy Schiff where the Oscar winner plays Benjamin Franklin. This new limited series explores the little-known story of one of the greatest gambles of Franklin’s career. At age 70, without any diplomatic training, Franklin convinced France, an absolute monarchy, to underwrite America’s experiment in democracy. The eight-year French mission stands as Franklin’s most vital service to his country, without which America would not have won the Revolution.
Q: You’ve played Franklin before, but I wanted to know what it’s like being in 18th century clothes, especially the iconic glasses.
A: Good question. Yeah, that was one of the major reasons why I wanted to do ‘Franklin’. I’m sort of at a point in my career where I’m trying different things. I never did a green screen film before and then I did The Marvel stuff. And comedy has fascinated me, so I wanted to do ‘The Kominsky Method’. And now in close to a 60-year career, I’ve never done it. So, I wanted to see how I’d look in tights. (Laughter.) Thank God I didn’t have to wear a wig. So that was an initial attraction to it. Then, of course, Ben Franklin and the possibility of playing it was wonderful. As far as the style in the 18th century and all of that, we had a wonderful, wonderful cast. A great cast, a wonderful director in Tim Van Patten, and I think it really helped us in the sense that it was a real ensemble group. And the joy of acting for us is when you go from different countries if you all can work together, you have the same language. So, it was a lovely experience and probably the best production I've been involved in in my career, so I liked it.
Q: Franklin also liked to mythologize himself even more, make himself even bigger than he was? How do you see him?
A: Well, I do. I mean, he had an extraordinary career, an extraordinary life, and we knew him in so many ways and he was really a Renaissance man in all senses. But at 70 years old, in the year of our independence, 1776, we all forget that we were in the middle of a major war with the British, we declared our independence. And then, the Continental Congress decided, well, we need Ben, because he was sort of well-known around the world, to do sort of an undercover diplomatic trip to France to try to get their support. Otherwise, we're not going to have a democracy. The French, we desperately needed them to supply us with weapons and cash and everything. He obviously likes a challenge, we've known that from the years before, but this was a different sort of beat. But I think he was very well aware of his position. He was very bright, but was a little bit of a rascal, too, as we all know. He was a little bit of a philanderer, liked to imbibe, big flirt, and yet, had a wonderful ability in terms of his idea of negotiating which was sort of a seduction. In other words, you don't ask for somebody. So, he played himself up knowing his position pretty well. He did.
Q: You mentioned you don't want to make this too much of a history lesson but clearly Franklin's story continues after this time in France, would you be open to returning to the character to tell that part of the story?
A: I don't think so because it's not a very nice story, really. That was the highlight. Things were not great for Franklin when he went back. He was 78, 79 when he went back and he died pretty soon after that, a few years later.
Q: A lot of times when you take a sweeping historical story like this, there is an underlying theme, something the writers and producers and the cast are trying to say about the subject. So, what do you think the big theme of ‘Franklin’ is, other than just telling the story of his life?
A: Well, I mean, for me, it was a new appreciation for our constitution, the democracy, realizing how fragile it really was and how close we came to it not coming about. Because realistically, if we did not get the support from the French that we needed, the British would have beaten us and that would have been that. And that would've been the shortest career of democracy that existed. I felt the more that we got into it and between negotiations with the British and the conflicts within the own Continental Congress between John Adams who comes over halfway through. So, for me, it was just a reminder in this day and age, and particularly this year, the value and how precious democracy is and how easy it is to lose it and how fragile it is. And sort of an inspiration of what the ideal was when we first started into how much it's been corrupted in the 250 years since then.
Q: Can you speak about the fragility of the time?
A: Well, the biggest surprise, I guess, was he didn’t go to school past 12 years old. So, everything is sort of self-learned. He was a voracious reader at a very early age, which played a big part. He was involved in the printing business, which is one of his earlier things. Then, of course, started his own newspaper. And then the number of inventions that we have besides electricity. We have the Franklin stove and many others that came along the way. And so he covered so many options, so many areas. I do not think being a good husband was one of his high points because he was very much involved with himself. For me, I sort of felt some Elon Musk comparisons for a guy slightly out there, but also, you're wary of it because he was so bright and so knowledgeable on so many things. He was very charming and tended to put people at ease, but was taking prisoners. He knew what he was doing, extremely ambitious. As I said, as a husband or as a father. And I think that was part of his attraction to why he brought Temple with him on this trip, was to have the son that he never really had.
Q: You already said that you wanted to do a period piece, and I get that, but at this point in your career, of roles that you consider, do they all have this sort of complexity that Franklin has?
A: Well, I guess I've always sort of been attracted to those characters that are in the gray area. I've never been attracted to true heroes. I mean, I always like people to have a little dark side to them because it just seems like a reality. But more than the character, for me, is the whole picture. You know, I produced a lot too. So that’s sort of the bane of my existence as an actor because I tend to always sort of look out over the whole production. But Richard Plepler, who’s one of the executive producers of this show, Richard used to be head of HBO and we had done “Behind the Candelabra” together, the Liberace piece I did a few years ago, so we had that relationship. And I knew I was in very good hands with him. And Tim Van Patten, our director, who I didn’t know personally, but did just brilliant jobs in everything I saw and turned out to be just a lovely, lovely guy.
Q: What have you learned as a producer?
A: Because of the producing background, when I'm in the middle of acting, I can't help myself but look around and see how we’re doing. And one of my things is try to encourage every other actor to be as good as they can be. Something Paul Newman taught me many, many years ago. Some actors surround themselves, because they just want to focus on the star. I want to be with good people, I want to make sure, because if everybody’s good around me, then I'll get through, you know? I'll be alright. And that’s what I felt on this. I mean, Noah killed it. He did just a wonderful job with great confidence, he did a fabulous job coming in. And our fabulous ensemble actors, both well-known Parisian, French actors, as well as the British actors, it was a great net, a real great safety net. And we kept seeing one scene after another rolling off relatively effortlessly, and didn’t seem too staged, just had kind of a natural quality. Saying that, all with fantastic production values. I mean, the picture looks great. Costumes are fantastic. Happy to be a part of it.
Q: You had Stacy’s very expansive book, source material to read and read up on. Was there any other research you did?
A: Well, I read a couple more books. I mean, Walter Isaacson’s book was very helpful for me, his biography that he did. And the problem we have is, I suppose, the only example I have is Liberace. Liberace is a person we know. We've seen him on a camera. We know how he sounds and all that. My biggest dilemma was when I opened up to look at a hundred-dollar bill, and I said, ‘I got a way to go,’ you know, ‘I don't know, man.’
Q: What aspects of Franklin’s character and life do you find most fascinating?
A: I guess the one that I found, which kind of relates to being a celebrity in real life is, you have this added aspect of awe. And I know in real life, people go, “Oh, gee, he’s such a regular, down-to-earth kind of guy,” and you’re expecting this thing. And truth be told, we use it to a certain extent. And I think Franklin did so. I enjoyed the ability he had to seduce. I love the ability, it would be a male or female, he could identify very quickly the foibles of somebody, whether it was flattery or something else, and knew how to bring the best out of them and make them all feel like he was Ben’s best friend, even though he had other ulterior motives. So, I enjoyed that. And then as I said earlier, because we only have these few portraits of him, which were always very formally done, we don’t really know what he sounded like, we knew he grew up in Boston, that it gave you a little more freedom.
Q: You keep coming to this subject of diplomacy is not a siege, it’s a seduction, and it makes a lot of sense the way you’re describing it. Should we somehow get that message to our current leaders and our current diplomats?
A: Well, that’s a good question. That’s a very good question. I would hope and think that this show is going to, obviously, just with the timing of coming out -- I think it’s April 12th -- is going to probably have some discussions coming up as to the present situation and realizing. Saying that, we also articulate the sort of conflict that was going on between Ben Franklin and, say, John Adams, you know? In congress, there was complete conflict and struggling going on. But I hope, I hope, that it leads to a more diplomatic time internally. I think externally, our country is fairly good at that, particularly our president now is a very diplomatic guy in how he’s handled a lot of situations around the world. But within our own politics right now, it’s a big disappointment, and I hope that in the present day they’ll remember a little bit of what life could be when we first started back then, and the way people behaved, and how precious this concept is, which has been distorted over the years.
Q: Are you in love with Spain and Mallorca?
A: Definitely. I spent the entire pandemic there with my family. They were difficult months but also wonderful. My daughter was studying at a school in Switzerland, we were preparing for empty nest syndrome and then COVID-19 hit, forcing us to regroup. The pandemic has brought us together a lot and we are very grateful to have been able to live all this time with our children. I love returning to Mallorca. I have been coming for more than 30 years and I have learned over time that 'Happy wife, happy life'. Catherine, it's very happy there.
Q: Do you read books by Spanish authors?
A: I have read Carmen Conde, who is a very important writer in Mallorca. I love identifying with the island, with Chopin's music, with the Serra de Tramuntana. This part of the Island is what I have worked to become a World Heritage Site. I made the Costa Nord following in the wake left by Archduke Luis Salvador. His whole world inspired me. Their landscapes and their works marked and marked my path. Now I am very involved in the NGO Tramuntana 21, which fights to maintain the ancient olive trees on the Serra farms. We want no construction in the Serra, for it to remain as it is, for Deià to continue to be the town it has always been. Preserve and help. That has helped me make the Serra a heritage for the whole world. This has been and is my great work. From Banyalbufar to Pollença, the Serra, at least for me, has not changed much, but I do not have to deal with the problems that governments deal with. I focus on preserving this heritage part that has to do with history and beauty. Of course, I leave my comfort zone, I travel around the Island, and I know its problems.
Q: How important are books in your life as a producer and actor?
A: I certainly read a lot. As an actor I like to read trying to find the real texture of who I’m playing. For ‘Franklin’ I read his writing, ‘Poor Richard’s Almanack’ and all the stuff he did during that time. You think of Warren Buffett from Omaha, you know? I don’t know if you’ve ever met, but I just saw Warren Buffett recently. He’s such a folksy guy. He’s the third richest person in the country and whatever else, but a mind, a wit that’s so, so sharp. His memory was spectacular. So those were the parts where I had to really use some acting.
Q: Do you speak Spanish?
A: A little bit. I like speaking in Spanish but also, I do know a bit of mallorquín.
Q: What do you do in Mallorca on a normal day?
A: My wife and I are very early risers, we drink coffee, we read the press. I spend at least two hours reading the news. Then we do sports. Some days friends come over for lunch, we take a nap and when we wake up that's when people in Los Angeles have already gotten to work, so I can work from here with LA. That's when my work begins. We love going on excursions, going to Cala Deià. Time flies. Catherine and I look at each other and wonder where our time goes when we're here.
María Estévez
Correspondent writer
