On Friday, an interview in whichMichael Cainedescribed his latest movieBest Sellersas being his “last role” had many believing that the 88 year old could be about to retire from acting for good. While he did cite a combination of the Covid pandemic, a back condition and a general lack of movies being made that wants to be a part of, he today clarified that he is definitely not retiring from acting, and even posted so on his Twitter account using one of the lines that has often been associated with him by many comedy impersonators over the years, saying, “I haven’t retired and not a lot of people know that.”
The original idea that the star of movies such asAlfie, The Italian Job, The Dark Knightand many more was perhaps done with acting came from a podcast by Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo on their “Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review” podcast for the BBC, in which he commented that his latest movie has “turned out to bemy last part really.”
Caine said, “Funnily enough, it has turned out to be what is my last part really. Because I haven’t worked for two years, and I have a spine problem which affects my legs so I can’t walk very well. And I also wrote a book, a couple of books, which were published and were successful, so I’m now not an actor, I’m a writer. Which is lovely, because as an actor you have to get up at half past six in the morning and go to the studio. As a writer, you start writing without leaving the bed!”
When asked if he was being serious about that, thelegendary actorreplied, “I think it would be [my last picture], yeah. There haven’t been any offers honestly for two years, because nobody’s been making any movies I wanna do. Also, you know I’m 88. There’s not exactly scripts pouring out with a leading man that’s 88, you know?”
However, today he decided to clear up the misconception that he would never act again andwas retiring from actingfor good. In a statement he said, “Regarding retirement, I’ve spent over 50 years getting up at 6:00 a.m. to make movies, and I’m not getting rid of my alarm clock!” He then followed it up with his Twitter post to back up the sentiment, which quickly went viral.
Of course this will be great news for fans of Caine, who has been entertaining audiences in every kind of film genre since he started out in the business in the 1950s, with numerous TV roles including parts inDixon of Dock Green, EscapeandThe Cain Mutiny Court-Martial, before making his break into movies in the 1960s in films such asZulu, The Ipcress FileandAlfiewhich set him on the path to becoming one of the longest serving and most loved actors in Hollywood. While I seems that Caine believes that there haven’t been as many opportunities coming his way, the same could have been said of Clint Eastwood a decade ago when he announced his retirement from acting and that turned out to be only a temporary thing. There seems to be no reason why we won’t see Caine back on screens in some capacity in the future, and he certainly isn’t ready to completely turn his back on acting just yet. We should see him back inmovie theaterssoon enough.
