Actor Michael Caine is not the retiring type
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AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 13, 2009 00:00
ROB WOOLLARD, California - While his upcoming thriller 'Harry Brown' echoes Michael Caine's role in the cult 1969 British gangster film 'Get Carter,' his latest movie, 'Is Anybody There?' is a touching story about the unlikely friendship between an aging magician and a small boy.
With more than 100 films under his belt and two Oscars on his mantelpiece, Michael Caine could be forgiven for contemplating retirement after more than half a century on the silver screen.
Yet though the 76-year-old actor's latest role has him playing an aging magician struggling to adjust to life as a reluctant resident of a retirement home, Caine says there is no chance of his life imitating art.
"[General Douglas] MacArthur said, 'Old soldiers don't die, they just fade away,' and maybe it's the same with old actors too," Caine told reporters ahead of the North American release of his film "Is Anybody There?" on April 17.
"I don't think you ever retire from films Ğ films retire you," Caine said. "Sometimes, if you're unfortunate, after your first film. What happens is you say 'I'm going to retire.' And then someone turns up and gives you this script. So you're not retiring."
"I don't have my next movie and I'm not looking for one. But someone will give me a script possibly and I'll work again. If someone doesn't give me a script that I want to do, I'll retire," Caine said. "But there won't be a great announcement or fanfare of trumpets. I just won't do anything. I'll stay at home and do what I always do, which is cooking, gardening and writing."
Born Maurice Micklewhite in 1933, Caine grew up in southeast London, the Cockney son of a charlady and a fish-market porter. He fell in love with Hollywood after seeing "The Lone Ranger" as a five-year-old.
After changing his name, Caine secured uncredited roles in a string of 1950s films before his big break came with the 1964 classic "Zulu."
One of the actor's best-known films, "The Ipcress File," followed before Caine shot to stardom as the morally bankrupt title character of the 1966 movie "Alfie," which earned him the first of six career Academy Award nominations.
Since then, Caine has played dozens of beloved film roles, from the swaggering thief Charlie Croker in the 1969 heist movie "The Italian Job" to Bruce Wayne's loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth, in the two most recent Batman blockbusters.
Caine is under contract to reprise the role of Alfred in any follow-up to "The Dark Knight," but he believes a sequel will not happen for some time as director Christopher Nolan is committed to other projects.
Most recently, Caine has finished work on a British thriller, "Harry Brown," in which he plays an aging Royal Marine who turns vigilante after his friend is killed on a crime-ridden London estate.
Reconnecting with roots
For Caine, the film was a chance to reconnect with his London roots.
"It was weird for me because we went back to these estates, which fortunately are being torn down," Caine said. "They were the estates where I came from and there is still a mural on a wall in this estate of me and Charlie Chaplin, who also came from there."
While "Harry Brown" echoes Caine's role in the cult 1969 British gangster film "Get Carter," his latest movie, "Is Anybody There?" tells the touching story of the unlikely friendship between the elder conjurer Clarence and Edward, a small boy who lives at the same retirement home, played by young actor Bill Milner.
Caine said he agreed to do the film after reading only half of the script and being reduced to tears.
"No script had ever done that to me before and I don't cry easily, believe me," Caine said. "I just thought it was a wonderful thing to do."
While Caine insists he has little in common with the struggle against aging and dementia faced by his character, Clarence, recent experiences in his personal life helped him prepare for the role.
"The film did give me an insight into why other people age and not me," Caine said. "But there was a sad aspect to it. For the dementia and Alzheimer's, I was technically perfect because my best friend had just died of it. I'd just spent five years watching somebody deal with it, so I knew exactly about Alzheimer's and the confusion it causes."
Caine said he had few reservations about working with a young co-star in "Is Anybody There?" Milner, whose other films include the recent independent hit "Son of Rambow," was 12 when filming took place.
"I never got the sense that Bill was a child actor," Caine said. "I just looked at him as if he was the same as me. And we were just friends. One reporter asked me the other day, 'Did you give him any advice?' And I said no, he didn't need any advice. He never looked like he needed any help. He was just wonderful."
Talk of co-stars brings Caine on to the subject of "The Dark Knight" colleague Christian Bale, who made unwanted headlines earlier this year after his lengthy rant at a crewmember on the set of an upcoming "Terminator" film was leaked onto the Internet.
Caine said he was "stunned" by Bale's outburst, which he described as "totally out of character."
"I'm more like that than Christian is," Caine said. "You're liable to get a volley off me if you walk into one of my takes."
He recounted an exchange with the late author and director James Clavell during filming of "The Last Valley" in 1970.
Clavell, who had been taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II, had taken Caine aside after he had exploded in anger on set.
"James Clavell told me that what he learned from watching the Japanese was they never lost their temper in front of strangers, because you expose too much of yourself," Caine said.
Yet though the 76-year-old actor's latest role has him playing an aging magician struggling to adjust to life as a reluctant resident of a retirement home, Caine says there is no chance of his life imitating art.
"[General Douglas] MacArthur said, 'Old soldiers don't die, they just fade away,' and maybe it's the same with old actors too," Caine told reporters ahead of the North American release of his film "Is Anybody There?" on April 17.
"I don't think you ever retire from films Ğ films retire you," Caine said. "Sometimes, if you're unfortunate, after your first film. What happens is you say 'I'm going to retire.' And then someone turns up and gives you this script. So you're not retiring."
"I don't have my next movie and I'm not looking for one. But someone will give me a script possibly and I'll work again. If someone doesn't give me a script that I want to do, I'll retire," Caine said. "But there won't be a great announcement or fanfare of trumpets. I just won't do anything. I'll stay at home and do what I always do, which is cooking, gardening and writing."
Born Maurice Micklewhite in 1933, Caine grew up in southeast London, the Cockney son of a charlady and a fish-market porter. He fell in love with Hollywood after seeing "The Lone Ranger" as a five-year-old.
After changing his name, Caine secured uncredited roles in a string of 1950s films before his big break came with the 1964 classic "Zulu."
One of the actor's best-known films, "The Ipcress File," followed before Caine shot to stardom as the morally bankrupt title character of the 1966 movie "Alfie," which earned him the first of six career Academy Award nominations.
Since then, Caine has played dozens of beloved film roles, from the swaggering thief Charlie Croker in the 1969 heist movie "The Italian Job" to Bruce Wayne's loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth, in the two most recent Batman blockbusters.
Caine is under contract to reprise the role of Alfred in any follow-up to "The Dark Knight," but he believes a sequel will not happen for some time as director Christopher Nolan is committed to other projects.
Most recently, Caine has finished work on a British thriller, "Harry Brown," in which he plays an aging Royal Marine who turns vigilante after his friend is killed on a crime-ridden London estate.
Reconnecting with roots
For Caine, the film was a chance to reconnect with his London roots.
"It was weird for me because we went back to these estates, which fortunately are being torn down," Caine said. "They were the estates where I came from and there is still a mural on a wall in this estate of me and Charlie Chaplin, who also came from there."
While "Harry Brown" echoes Caine's role in the cult 1969 British gangster film "Get Carter," his latest movie, "Is Anybody There?" tells the touching story of the unlikely friendship between the elder conjurer Clarence and Edward, a small boy who lives at the same retirement home, played by young actor Bill Milner.
Caine said he agreed to do the film after reading only half of the script and being reduced to tears.
"No script had ever done that to me before and I don't cry easily, believe me," Caine said. "I just thought it was a wonderful thing to do."
While Caine insists he has little in common with the struggle against aging and dementia faced by his character, Clarence, recent experiences in his personal life helped him prepare for the role.
"The film did give me an insight into why other people age and not me," Caine said. "But there was a sad aspect to it. For the dementia and Alzheimer's, I was technically perfect because my best friend had just died of it. I'd just spent five years watching somebody deal with it, so I knew exactly about Alzheimer's and the confusion it causes."
Caine said he had few reservations about working with a young co-star in "Is Anybody There?" Milner, whose other films include the recent independent hit "Son of Rambow," was 12 when filming took place.
"I never got the sense that Bill was a child actor," Caine said. "I just looked at him as if he was the same as me. And we were just friends. One reporter asked me the other day, 'Did you give him any advice?' And I said no, he didn't need any advice. He never looked like he needed any help. He was just wonderful."
Talk of co-stars brings Caine on to the subject of "The Dark Knight" colleague Christian Bale, who made unwanted headlines earlier this year after his lengthy rant at a crewmember on the set of an upcoming "Terminator" film was leaked onto the Internet.
Caine said he was "stunned" by Bale's outburst, which he described as "totally out of character."
"I'm more like that than Christian is," Caine said. "You're liable to get a volley off me if you walk into one of my takes."
He recounted an exchange with the late author and director James Clavell during filming of "The Last Valley" in 1970.
Clavell, who had been taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II, had taken Caine aside after he had exploded in anger on set.
"James Clavell told me that what he learned from watching the Japanese was they never lost their temper in front of strangers, because you expose too much of yourself," Caine said.