Douglas optimistic about recovery, return to work

LOS ANGELES - Michael Douglas will find out in January if the throat cancer he announced over the summer has been eliminated and the 66-year-old actor is already looking forward to his next movie role.

Douglas tells the weekly Hollywood Reporter that he'll play the title part in Steven Soderbergh's "Liberace," which is set to begin shooting in May or June. He says that his cancer diagnosis has brought him closer to his father, Kirk Douglas, and that the disease "has shown me what family is."

Douglas also reflects on his recent difficulties with ex-wife Diandra Douglas and his son's incarceration on drug charges.

The article appears in the issue on newsstands Wednesday.