Michael Keaton finally wants to ditch his stage name and start going by his real name, Michael Douglas.
After decades in the business, the 73-year-old Bettlejuice star – who was born Michael John Douglas – has found a way to incorporate his birth name into his stage name.
The acting legend wasn’t allowed to use his birth name because the Screen Actors Guild prohibits members from using another stars professional name.
And unfortunately for Keaton, Oscar-winning Michael Douglas, 79, was already there first.
Keaton now wants to be credited as Michael Keaton Douglas in his future movies to come.
Michael Keaton, 73, finally wants to ditch his stage name and start going by his real name, Michael Douglas
After decades in the business, the Bettlejuice star – who was born Michael John Douglas – has found a way to incorporate his birth name into his stage name
However, his name in the credits of the Bettlejuice sequel will still remain as Michael Keaton because he didn’t sort it out in time, he revealed.
He told PEOPLE magazine: ‘I said, “Hey, just as a warning, my credit is going to be Michael Keaton Douglas.
‘And it totally got away from me. And I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create that. But that will happen.’
Recalling why he chose the last name ‘Keaton’, he added: ‘I was looking through – I can’t remember if it was a phone book.
I must’ve gone, “I don’t know, let me think of something here”. And I went, “Oh, that sounds reasonable”.
Last month, Keaton admitted he felt ‘nervous’ returning to the iconic role of Beetlejuice for Tim Burton’s highly-anticipated sequel because he didn’t want to ‘disappoint everyone.’
Fans got their first taste of the quirky Bio-Exorcist more than three decades ago when Keaton portrayed the unforgettable character in the cult 1988 movie alongside the likes of Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is set for release on September 6, and director Tim, 65, has added Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, and Willem Dafoe to the cast – as well as his real-life girlfriend Monica Bellucci.
The acting legend wasn’t allowed to use his birth name because the Screen Actors Guild prohibits members from using another stars professional name
And unfortunately for Keaton, Oscar-winning Michael Douglas (pictured), 79, was already there first
Keaton now wants to be credited as Michael Keaton Douglas in his future movies to come
Keaton pictured in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
During an interview with Al Roker, Keaton said of the second film: ‘I was nervous going in, we all kind of were, because you don’t want to mess it up. “Can I do this and not disappoint everyone?” frankly.’
Referring to the first time he saw himself made up as Beetlejuice again, he said: ‘When I saw that I thought, “yeah, there we are”, and the story is actually a really, really solid story and everybody’s so good in it, that the pressure was kind of off me a little bit.’
When asked if it felt like it had been 36 years, Keaton joked: ‘It feels like 136 years’.
When Al, 70, commented that O’Hara’s character Delia Deetz has ‘mellowed’ and is ‘nicer’, the Home Alone star replied: ‘You got to be. Come on, how long can you spend the energy arguing with somebody?’ as Keaton added: ‘It just gets tiring.’