MICHAEL DOUGLAS - DOUGLAS SET TO PLAY THIEF

Hollywood star MICHAEL DOUGLAS is keen to get his acting career back on track - with a role in as a gentleman thief in new project ART CON.

After spending the past few months happily supporting wife CATHERINE ZETA-JONES's burgeoning film career, Douglas want to return to his acting roots and star as real-life con-man JOHN DREWE.

The WALL STREET star, 59, will be working with MENACE II SOCIETY director ALBERT HUGHES on the caper - scripted by DIE ANOTHER DAY writers NEAL PURVIS and ROBERT WADE.

The film will chart Drewe's career in crime, which peaked when he made a fortune from forged paintings in the 1980s.

Douglas has not had a major film hit since he appeared in the OSCAR-winning TRAFFIC in 2000. Neither of his last films - IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY and THE IN-LAWS were box-office smash hits.