Michael Keaton Reveals He's Planning On Going By His Real Name Moving Forward

Ah, the sacrifices one makes for a career in the arts.

Like many artists, actor Michael Keaton has apparently been working under a stage name for his whole career. His name is actually Michael Douglas, which he could not use as a stage name back in the '70s when he was getting started because there was an actor already using it.

This naming confusion came about because of a rule in the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG), which states that actors cannot repeat the stage name of another existing actor. This rule has led to other such name changes, such as Emma Stone, whose name is Emily.

Michael Keaton announced in a recent interview that he intends to go by Michael Keaton Douglas professionally going forward. He said he chose the name out of a phone book when informed he would have to pick a new stage name.

“I was looking through — I can’t remember if it was a phone book...I must’ve gone, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something here.’ And I went, ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable.’”

Keaton Douglas, whose career began as a trickle in comedic roles, rose to stardom with the one-two combination of titular roles in Batman and Beetlejuice. More recently he's picked up awards for Birdman and a role in the Hulu series Dopesick, about the opioid crisis.

Folks were initially a little confused.

Some commenters were excited about the change.

For diehard fans, the news was not so shocking.

Actors have to change names a lot, it seems, to comply with the SAG rules.

Apparently Michael Douglas—not Michael Keaton Douglas—is a stage name in the first place.

Folks were not impressed with SAG's rules.

Keaton Douglas returned to screens this month as the titular character in the hotly anticipated Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.