To honor Prince, Michael Douglas wears purple at film festival

Michael Douglas paid simple homage to Prince at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York with his attire: a matching purple shirt and pullover V-neck sweater.

“He was such a private man, protected his work so much,” he said Saturday night. “But he was an extraordinary talent, just an extraordinary talent. I really feel a loss.”

Besides being a fan, Douglas has a connection to Prince: He gave him his 1985 Academy Award for the “Purple Rain” score.

Douglas was at the festival to help filmmakers Smriti Keshari and Eric Schlosser promote their multimedia installation, “The Bomb.” The immersive experience, which closed the festival, puts the viewer in the middle of the film, which is displayed on screens around them while a live band plays in the center.

“I think this film, ‘The Bomb’ and the presentation, how beautifully it’s done, is gonna bring in hopefully a new generation of younger people to make them conscious of the most important issue in our life that is least talked about,” Douglas said.

Douglas feels the less we talk about nuclear weapons, the more dangerous they become.

“We cannot wait for a nuclear accident to happen before there’s action to take place,” Douglas said.

Douglas has already brought the conversation of a possible nuclear catastrophe to the big screen, having produced and starred in the 1979 thriller, “The China Syndrome.”

“I was making a horror picture, involving a nuclear power station, and in doing our research and finding out about the half-life of plutonium and realizing, ‘My God, this is really a monster.’ And I’ve pursued this issue for years,” he said.