Michael Douglas and Jeremy Irvine get pally at the premiere of human-sport-hunting thriller The Reach

For the debut of a cat-and-mouse thriller about one man’s attempts to sport-hunt a living, breathing human being, the red carpet premiere of Jean-Baptiste Leonetti’s The Reach at the Princess of Wales Theatre on Saturday sure was a cordial affair. Michael Douglas plays Madec, a hunting enthusiast richer than Scrooge McDuck, who turns on his guide Ben (Warhorse’s Jeremy Irvine) during a hunting trip in the Mojave desert. It’s a classical American story, says Leonetti, about the American dream tuned to extremes— “like Gordon Gekko does the West Coast.” On the carpet, Douglas shared that he doesn’t hunt, he’s never shot at an animal, and has no idea what the thrill of that might be like—sometimes, he just likes to play the villain. In fact, he spent more time gushing about Toronto (and palling around with co-star Irvine) than talking socioeconomics or rifle specs.