Michael Douglas said on a recent episode of Rob Lowe’s Literally! podcast that he refused to work with Debra Winger on Romancing the Stone after a meeting between them ended with Winger allegedly biting Douglas. Winger was the studio’s first choice to star in the film as Joan Wilder, a romance novelist who falls in love with a bird hunter (Douglas) during an adventure in the Colombian jungle. Kathleen Turner ended up getting the role in the Robert Zemeckis romance film.
Zemeckis and Douglas reportedly met Winger in Texas while she was in the middle of filming Terms of Endearment.
“She comes over to our place to have dinner one night and we all have dinner together and we talk and have some tequilas and this and that,” Douglas said. “We go out and, just like you would say, ‘Oh you!’ and give someone a little slap in the arm, you know, like a joke she’s like, ‘Oh you!’ and she reaches over and she bites my arm.”
Douglas said he cried out in pain when Winger bit him, adding, “She’s such a prankster and I look at her, ‘I don’t know, man…’ I’m like, ‘this could be tough,’ and she seems interested and I’m going back and she broke the skin.”
When Douglas finally had to meet with the studio, he said he “broke down in tears” and told execs, “I can’t go into the jungle with her — she bit my arm!” I can’t! ‘” The actor said studio management agreed not to cast Winger, opening the door for Turner to take on the role.
Variety has reached out to Winger’s rep for comment.
Douglas told Variety in 2019, on the occasion of the film’s 35th anniversary, that “we couldn’t get a direct answer as to whether [Debra] committed or not and we had concerns after we got down there [to Mexico] With [Zemeckis] on site and saw how difficult it was going to be. We would need someone who is an absolute team player.”
Romancing the Stone was released in March 1984 and was a box office hit, grossing $115 million worldwide. A sequel, The Jewel of the Nile, was released in 1985. Both Douglas and Turner reprized their roles in the film.
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