Who originally planned to star in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”?

When Kirk Douglas bought the film rights to Ken Kesey's novel, he planned on playing the lead role on both stage and screen. And while it did go to Broadway in 1963, movie studios weren't exactly throwing money at movies about sticking it to the man, set in a psych ward, at the peak of the Cold War. Douglas spent the next decade trying to convince executives to greenlight his passion project, but setback after setback made him consider selling the rights.

His son, Michael Douglas, had fallen in love with the book in college and was just getting his producing career off the ground, so he asked his father to give him a chance. The good news was that the younger Douglas was able to secure financing, but the bad news was that everyone felt the older Douglas was now too old to play the lead. As producer, it was Michael's job to tell his dad that production was going in a different direction.

The role of Randle McMurphy was then offered to James Caan, Gene Hackman, and Marlon Brando, and after all of them said no, it finally landed in Nicholson's lap. The movie swept the Academy Awards, and Kirk Douglas got to watch his son accept the Oscar for Best Picture. Kirk Douglas also got half of his son's producing deal, so while he didn't get any awards, he still got the payday!