On August 28, 2024, in Venice, Italy, Michael Keaton attended a photocall for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” during the 81st Venice International Film Festival. Due to a rule by the Screen Actors Guild prohibiting the use of another member’s professional name, Michael Keaton adopted his current stage name.

He shared in an interview published on September 4th that he had initially planned to use the name Michael Keaton Douglas for his new movie, *Knox Goes Away*, which he directed. However, he forgot to give enough time for the name change and promised that it would eventually appear in the credits.

This isn’t the first time the actor has discussed the topic. In 1992, during a stop on the press tour for *Batman Returns*, Keaton had addressed the irony of the situation.

Notably, Michael Douglas’s father, Issur Danielovitch, had to Americanize his surname for assimilation purposes, yet the *Fatal Attraction* actor was actually born Michael Douglas.