Acting legend Michael Caine reportedly is not retired, despite comments he recently made indicating his new movie Best Sellers would be his last. Caine first became a star way back in the 1960s thanks to classic movies like Alfie, The Ipcress File and the original Italian Job.
Caine of course has maintained his prominence in the acting game throughout the decades, scoring a pair of Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor along the way. In recent years the actor has become joined at the hip to director Christopher Nolan, appearing in several of Nolan’s movies, including the Dark Knight trilogy where he memorably played Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler Alfred. This year Caine is back on the big screen in Best Sellers, starring alongside Aubrey Plaza in a drama about a reclusive writer who becomes an internet phenomenon while promoting his latest book. Caine’s many fans unfortunately received bad news when he recently indicated during an interview that Best Sellers would be his final film.
Now however it seems Caine’s reports of his own career’s demise were somewhat exaggerated. According to Variety, sources say the 88-year-old Caine is not in fact retired and even now is looking at two scripts. This despite Caine’s own comments saying no one has offered him anything in the last two years, and his sardonic remark that “There’s not exactly scripts pouring out where the leading man is 88.” Caine's Twitter account later tweeted confirmation that the actor is in fact still going strong.
In the interview with Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review where he gave everyone the impression he was retired, Caine remarked upon his own physical limitations, saying he has a “spine problem” that affects his ability to walk. Caine also said he’s taken up writing and is no longer engaged in acting. “Which is lovely because as an actor, you have to get up at half past six in the morning and go to the studio,” Caine quipped, adding, “As a writer, you can start writing without leaving the bed!”
Though Caine certainly made it appear he had moved on from his acting career in those remarks, it now seems he may have been joking around a little bit with the interviewers. Of course Caine’s agent was surely not thrilled with the remarks, as declaring retirement is a sure-fire way to not get sent anymore scripts. Obviously someone wanted to clear up any confusion about Caine’s status, and quickly got hold of Variety to get out the story about him still being active. It’s not known what those two scripts are Caine is looking at, but it’s safe to assume one of them is Oppenheimer, the new project being launched by Caine’s long-time collaborator Nolan. The Dark Knight director indeed may be happier than anyone to know his good-luck-charm Caine is not in fact retired from acting, but still has a few more movies left in him beyond Best Sellers.
Source: Variety, Michael Caine/Twitter