ENTERTAINMENTMichael Douglas, 82, Says Publishers Wanted Someone 'Younger' Like Tom Holland, 30, to Narrate His Audiobook Memoir
Michael Douglas revealed that publishers wanted Tom Holland to narrate the memoir of his audiobook.
Oct. 12 2026, Updated 10:20 a.m. ET
Michael Douglas’ raspy voice has been a defining part of his persona since the 1970s. It’s hard to imagine anyone else’s tone delivering the infamous "Greed is good" speech in 1987’s Wall Street, but the movie star, 82, revealed the publishers behind his new memoir, One Helluva Ride, didn't want him to narrate his own book.
'What About Someone a Little Younger, Like Tom Holland?'
Michael Douglas' memoir 'One Helluva Ride' covers several decades of Hollywood stories.
“So the publisher came to me and said, whose voice should we get to do the audio,” Douglas related in a recent Instagram video. “I said, ‘What about me?’ And they said ‘Yeah, what about someone a little younger, like Tom Holland.’”
Publishers wanted Tom Holland to narrate Michael Douglas' video.
'Hey, I'm a Marvel Guy'
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Michael Douglas objected to having anyone else narrate his memoir.
Having the newest Spider-Man narrate for the original Ant-Man may have sounded like a good idea, but Douglas vetoed it.
“I said, ‘Tom holland’s a lovely guy, a great actor. I liked him in Spider-Man. He’s very good, he does all those other action pictures,” he said. “But hey, I’m a Marvel guy! I had Ant-Man, an Avengers picture, we cover all bases. So I won out.”
In his caption, the father-of-three quipped to the 30-year-old actor, "Sorry Tom, but Hank Pym won this round 🐜."
Douglas' Memoir Covers Decades of Hollywood History
Michael Douglas' book covers his marriage to Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Douglas’ book has been attracting attention all over Hollywood. In the memoir, he opened up about a wide variety of experiences: His loneliness after a stage 4 cancer diagnosis in 2010, his longtime marriage to Catherine Zeta-Jones, and resentment over his son’s addiction.
Perhaps nothing caught more attention from movie fanatics than his admission that he and Romancing the Stone costar Kathleen Turner engaged in an affair while filming the 1984 film.
'I Was Born Michael Kirk Douglas, Son of Spartacus'
Kathleen Turner's romance with Michael Douglas was exposed in his memoir.
In the book, he wrote, "The official story went as follows: Yes, we confessed, we had amazing chemistry. Yes, we were both, as Kathleen said, 'terrible flirts,' and yes, we were both tempted, but nothing ever happened between us … It was a lie meant to protect my wife and son, a lie we told the world for 40 years."
He also wrote of the pressure of living up to his father, Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas.
“I should have been born Mikhail Danielovitch, grandson of a ragman,” he wrote in the memoir. “Instead, I was born Michael Kirk Douglas, son of Spartacus.”
