Michael Keaton Dissects the Difficulties of Working in TV, Taking On a Drug Crusade and Revisiting Bruce Wayne
variety.comEmily Longeretta Michael Keaton has a reputation for saying no. He’s not sure how it began — but he’s aware of it. In fact, he nearly said no to “Dopesick.” When his agent first told him about the project, he didn’t think he’d have time since he had a commitment out of the country.
Then he was told it was coming from creator Danny Strong and took a look at the script. “Then it was real. The writing was good, we had a discussion and then we were filming,” says Keaton, who had already signed on to do a movie in London, so all his scenes were pushed together into a short period. “I was told that people used to refer to me as ‘Doctor No,’ because apparently, I used to say no a lot.
I don’t think I really said no to that much. The things that I said no to, there was a reason. It wasn’t like I was above it.
It just wasn’t fitting into my life, or I didn’t think I could do the job very well,” he explains. “There were a lot of times I’ve looked at something and think, ‘There probably are 50 guys who could do this better than I could.’ But I’d never done anything like this.” After he agreed to take on the series, Strong began writing more episodes.“We were so lucky to get Michael Keaton to star in ‘Dopesick,’ because he is one of the most talented actors in the business,” the writer says. “He exudes an innate depth and kindness and has an incredible emotional range that was perfect to capture the ups and downs of Dr.
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