Douglas plans film during cancer battle

Douglas told reporters that he will play the title part in Steven Soderbergh's Liberace, due to begin shooting in May or June.

Doctors have told him there is an 80 per cent cure rate for his cancer and he said the illness had brought him closer to his 93-year-old father, Kirk Douglas.

The two had a strained relationship for many years, but "he really made an effort" after the diagnosis, Douglas said: "In those key years, when Kirk was doing five movies a year, if we saw him it was only out of his guilt."

He acknowledged that he may have repeated that pattern with his own son, Cameron Douglas, 31, who was recently jailed on drug-related charges.

Douglas was optimistic about his recovery. He said the disease had "certainly has put a little perspective on mortality," but it had also shown him "what family is".