He already teased the idea last month, but now he’s making it official – Sir Michael Caine is retiring from acting.
The Oscar-winning actor last month teased in an interview he’s “sort of retired” now as he’s 90 years old and physically reaching a point where he can no longer do films like he used to.
This week he appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today talk show to discuss his new film “The Great Escaper” based on the true story of a WW2 veteran who engineered a ‘great escape’ from his care home in 2014 in order to attend the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings.
The film has been met with a very good reception and whilst discussing the movie and the lure of William Ivory’s script, he made it clear he’s done because he feels like he’s going out on a high:
“Funny enough, I’d retired when I was sent the script, and I turned it down three times, but I kept falling in love with him every time I read it, and so I did it. I kept saying I’m gonna retire.
Well, I am now because I figured, I’ve had a picture where I’ve played the lead, and it’s got incredible reviews. The only parts I’m likely to get now are old men, 90-year-old men – well, maybe 85, you know? And I thought, ‘Well, I might as well leave with all this. I’ve got wonderful reviews. What am I gonna do to beat this?'”
Caine adds his final role was difficult for him physically: “They gave me a very good walking stick, and I was able to do scenes that needed that. I’d just do them once, and then fall over.”
Caine’s credits are too numerous to mention but include famed films like “Zulu,” “The Ipcress File,” “Alfie,” “The Italian Job,” “Get Carter,” “The Man Who Would Be King,” “A Bridge Too Far,” “Dressed to Kill,” “Educating Rita,” “The Fourth Protocol,” “Hannah and Her Sisters,” “The Cider House Rules,” “Children of Men” and multiple films for Christopher Nolan from “The Dark Knight” and “The Prestige” to “Inception” and “Batman Begins”.
