It is actually pretty rare to see a Hollywood dynasty stop pretending they aren't related for ninety minutes and just lean into the chaos of their own DNA. Most of the time, famous families avoid working together because, well, it’s complicated. But back in 2003, we got something weird and deeply personal. The cast of It Runs in the Family wasn't just a group of actors playing a script; it was a living, breathing family tree projected onto a cinema screen.
You’ve got Michael Douglas. You’ve got his father, the legendary Kirk Douglas. You even have Michael’s son, Cameron, and his mother, Diana Douglas. It’s basically a home movie with a multimillion-dollar budget and professional lighting.
Honestly, the movie itself—a comedy-drama about a high-powered New York family trying to reconcile their various dysfunctions—is almost secondary to the spectacle of seeing three generations of Douglases share the frame. If you look at the lines on Kirk’s face and then look at Michael’s, you aren't seeing prosthetic makeup or clever casting. You’re seeing the literal passage of time in one of the most powerful bloodlines in show business history.
The Douglas Dynasty: More Than Just Names on a Poster
When people search for the cast of It Runs in the Family, they usually start with Michael Douglas. By 2003, Michael was firmly established as a titan. He’d done Wall Street, Basic Instinct, and Fatal Attraction. He was the guy who played the "greedy is good" archetype with chilling perfection. But in this film, he plays Alex Gromberg, a man caught in the middle of a generational sandwich. He’s trying to be a better father than his own dad was, while simultaneously realizing his own son is drifting away.
Then there is Kirk.
Kirk Douglas was 86 years old when this film was released. He had survived a helicopter crash in 1991 and a severe stroke in 1996 that significantly impaired his speech. Watching him as Mitchell Gromberg is, frankly, a bit emotional. He doesn't hide the effects of the stroke. He uses them. The grit that made him Spartacus is still there, but it’s softened by the vulnerability of an actor who knows this might be his final major curtain call. It wasn’t his last film, but it felt like his most honest one.
The casting of Diana Douglas as Mitchell’s wife, Evelyn, adds a layer of reality that's almost uncomfortable if you think about it too much. Diana and Kirk had been divorced since 1951. They hadn't been a "couple" for over half a century by the time the cameras rolled. Yet, here they were, playing a long-married pair. There is a specific kind of chemistry between people who have known each other for fifty years, even if those years weren't spent in the same house. You can’t fake that kind of familiarity.
Breaking Down the Rest of the Gromberg Clan
While the Douglas men take up most of the oxygen in the room, the cast of It Runs in the Family features some heavy hitters who aren't named Douglas.
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Bernadette Peters plays Rebecca Gromberg, Michael’s wife. Peters is a Broadway icon, and she brings a needed warmth to the screen. She’s the anchor. Without her, the movie would just be men barking at each other about their legacies. She plays the "sane" one, though in a family this neurotic, sanity is a relative term.
Then there’s Rory Culkin.
Before he was doing indie darlings or Succession-adjacent vibes, he was the youngest member of the Gromberg household. He plays Eli, the kid who is just trying to navigate the mess of his elders. Culkin has always had this sort of soulful, wide-eyed look that makes him perfect for playing the observer. In many ways, his character is the audience’s surrogate. We are watching the Douglas family through his eyes.
- Michael Douglas as Alex Gromberg: The middle-aged lawyer trying to hold it all together.
- Kirk Douglas as Mitchell Gromberg: The stubborn patriarch who refuses to go gently into that good night.
- Cameron Douglas as Asher Gromberg: The rebellious son dealing with real-world demons (some of which mirrored Cameron’s actual life at the time).
- Diana Douglas as Evelyn Gromberg: The matriarch and the literal mother of the lead actor.
- Bernadette Peters as Rebecca: The bridge between the warring generations.
- Rory Culkin as Eli: The young observer.
It's a strange mix. You have a Culkin, a Peters, and a trio of Douglases. It shouldn't work, but the friction makes it interesting.
Why This Cast Mattered (and Why it Failed at the Box Office)
Let’s be real for a second. The movie didn't set the world on fire. It made about $17 million against a $35 million budget. Critics were kind of "meh" about it, often saying it felt more like a vanity project than a cohesive film. But I think they missed the point.
The cast of It Runs in the Family was the whole point.
The film serves as a meta-commentary on the Douglas family itself. At the time of filming, Cameron Douglas was struggling with significant substance abuse issues—something that would later lead to a lengthy prison sentence. When you watch his scenes as Asher, the "troubled" son, you aren't seeing a performance that’s miles away from his reality. You’re seeing a father (Michael) and a grandfather (Kirk) look at a young man they are genuinely worried about.
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It’s meta-storytelling before that was a trendy buzzword.
There is a scene where Mitchell and Alex are sitting together, and they start talking about the past. Kirk’s speech is labored, but his eyes are piercing. Michael looks at him with a mix of reverence and frustration. You realize they aren't just reading lines from a script written by Jesse Wigutow. They are likely having conversations they’ve had a hundred times in private homes in Beverly Hills.
Semantic Variations and Supporting Players
While the main family gets the spotlight, the supporting cast of It Runs in the Family includes some faces you might recognize if you're a student of 2000s cinema.
- Michelle Monaghan shows up as Peg Maloney. It was one of her earlier roles before she became a household name in Mission: Impossible and True Detective.
- Geoffrey Arend is in there too.
- Sarita Choudhury, who is always excellent, plays a small but vital role.
These actors provide the "outside world" perspective. They remind the audience that the Grombergs, for all their wealth and history, are living in a bubble. It’s a bubble of privilege, yes, but also a bubble of shared trauma and expectation.
The movie was directed by Fred Schepisi. He’s the guy who did Roxanne and Six Degrees of Separation. He was perhaps the only person who could manage the egos and the history on that set. Working with one Douglas is a task; working with three, plus an ex-wife, is a logistical nightmare that requires a director with a very steady hand.
The Legacy of the 2003 Film
When Kirk Douglas passed away in 2020 at the age of 103, people went back and re-watched his filmography. They watched Paths of Glory. They watched Lust for Life. But many also found their way back to this little 2003 dramedy.
It’s not a masterpiece of cinema. It’s not The Godfather. But it is a masterpiece of casting.
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There is something deeply human about seeing a family try to work through their "stuff" while the whole world watches. The cast of It Runs in the Family gave us a glimpse into a world of Hollywood royalty that we rarely get to see without the polish of a PR-managed interview. They were messy. They were loud. They were old. They were young and foolish.
Basically, they were a family.
If you’re looking to understand the Douglas lineage, this movie is a better documentary than any actual documentary could ever be. It captures the physical resemblance, the shared mannerisms, and the weight of a name that opens doors but also creates a lot of pressure to perform.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Film Buffs
If you’re planning on revisiting this film or checking it out for the first time, here is how to get the most out of it:
- Watch for the non-verbals. Pay attention to the way Michael and Kirk mirror each other's body language. It’s uncanny and wasn't something a director could coach.
- Research the context. Read about Cameron Douglas’s life during the early 2000s. It changes the way you view his scenes with Michael. It turns a standard father-son conflict into something much more poignant.
- Look for Diana Douglas. She often gets overlooked in the "Douglas Dynasty" talk, but her performance in this film is the glue. She was an accomplished actress in her own right, and her presence here is a beautiful tribute to her role in the real-life family.
- Compare to Wall Street. If you want to see the range of Michael Douglas, watch him as Gordon Gekko and then watch him as Alex Gromberg. One is a shark; the other is a man just trying to keep his head above water. It’s a masterclass in shifting energy.
The film is currently available on various streaming platforms and is well worth the rental fee just for the historical significance of the Douglas trio. Don't go in expecting a high-octane thriller. Go in expecting a quiet, sometimes awkward, but ultimately sincere look at what it means to carry a legacy.
The Grombergs might be fictional, but the Douglases are very real, and in this movie, the line between the two is almost non-existent.
Check the credits for the small roles, too—you’ll see just how many people it takes to build a world around a family that is already a world unto themselves.