Beetlejuice Beetlejuice star Michael Keaton intends to return to his roots by reclaiming his real name. After following his career for decades, audiences might be surprised to learn that he shares the name of another internationally famous actor, Michael Douglas. Douglas happened to join the Screen Actors Guild first, automatically calling dibs on the “Michael Douglas” brand. As is often the case for actors who join after their name twins, Keaton was forced to find a unique moniker outside his birth certificate.
Michael Keaton Soon to Rebrand
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Ahead of the premiere of his new movie Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Michael Keaton (born Michael John Douglas) sat down with People to talk about the film and his plans moving forward. He reminisced about joining SAG and being presented with the option to change his name. Not only was “Michael Douglas” already taken by another actor, but a different “Mike Douglas” was also in the books. To avoid confusion in his future credits, the young performer searched his imagination – and possibly a phonebook – for an appropriate nom de guerre.
“I was looking through — I can’t remember if it was a phonebook,” Keaton recounted. “I must’ve gone, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something here.’ And I went, ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable.'” He explained that he expects to be credited in future projects with a hybrid of what he has employed personally and professionally. He will soon style himself as Michael Keaton Douglas, maintaining continuity with his preexisting and extensive filmography.
SAG’s Unique Name Policy and Michael Keaton Douglas
It’s common practice for newcomers joining the Screen Actors Guild to choose unique names when another member has already taken theirs. And it is such a well-known facet of the union that people may be surprised to learn that it is technically not a mandatory policy. Although SAG heavily encourages the adoption of a unique handle to simplify business dealings for all of its members, it is technically a recommendation and not a barrier to entry.
SAG offers the following clarification under the Professional Name Availability section of their FAQ for obtaining membership: “While we strongly discourage members from selecting a professional name that is in conflict with a current member, SAG-AFTRA cannot preclude a member from using their legal name as their professional name.” One could see how the guild wants to avoid confusion between working actors, their credits, and their branding.
But for all of that, Michael Douglas and Michael Keaton are both A-List celebrities. At this stage, Michael Keaton has been praised for playing the eponymous lead characters in several classics such as Batman, Birdman, and the original Beetlejuice. His future career is probably quite safe from the kind of malarkey SAG’s naming convention was built to navigate.
Being Emily Stone
Some actors face a more existential situation when they follow SAG’s strong suggestion to choose a new unique name. It is one thing to switch out a surname – civilians do it all the time for many reasons outside the industry. In Michael Keaton’s case, it becomes a bit of trivia on his Wikipedia page.
Changing a first name is an altogether different animal. The actors almost have to give themselves a nickname, as their professional name becomes the default for every person they meet at work. Emily Stone (known famously as Emma Stone) has spoken about how it can become slightly unsettling.
“[Emily Stone] was taken at Screen Actors Guild. It’s sort of like when you register a business and you can’t have the same name as someone else,” she told TODAY. Even though Stone understands the impulse for the public to refer to her as Emma, she would like to embrace her real name as well. “I freaked out a couple of years ago. For some reason, I was like, ‘I can’t do it anymore. Just call me Emily.'”
Final Thoughts
With Michael Keaton Douglas and Emily Stone, there could be a trend of established actors choosing to return to their birth names. SAG’s guidelines champion clarity, but the relatively few celebrities in their midst may prefer to disregard that in favor of simplicity.
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