Michael Caine says he’s done with film work. Really.
The British icon and two-time Oscar-winner said his upcoming The Great Escaper will mark his final film before retirement. He’s said similar things before, which were quickly walked back. But at age 90, it seems that this time is truly the moment.
“I am bloody 90 now, and I can’t walk properly and all that,” he told The Telegraph in a new profile. “I sort of am retired now.”
If that’s true, Caine’s final film will tell the story of Bernard “Bernie” Jordan, a Royal Navy veteran who vanished from his retirement facility at age 89. From there, he journeyed to partake in the 70th anniversary commemoration of D-Day.
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“I was so happy to do it. I just loved the character of Bernie. I thought he was incredible, and it’s so beautifully written. With Covid and all that, I hadn’t done a picture for three years, and I thought I was finished. And I suddenly did it — and had such a wonderful time. 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. But just one take, and that’s it. Forget it.”
Film director Oliver Parker said great care was taken with Caine during The Great Escaper production, given his age and physical difficulties.
“We were careful to ensure that Michael wasn’t working too hard,” said Parker, “and having to negotiate him moving around at the pace he did. But for him to have returned to acting after not having made a film in a while, and in the way he did, was quite a thing. I’ve rarely seen him playing a character that has such frailty. He’s always been Michael Caine — carefree, confident and cool. Here he’s playing a man who is struggling to keep control. And for the audience to invest in that he really has to share his vulnerabilities, and I really was thrilled at Michael’s ability to do that.”
Caine reflected on growing old in the interview.
“The worst thing about it is that so much disappears from your life. You can’t run around, you can’t play football, and you gradually realize you’re approaching death. [Death] could be just around the corner at 90,” he said.
“But I’m quite happy. I’m sitting here writing, doing my thing. I like it. I have two children, three grandchildren and a wife… Everyone’s going to join me eventually. No one’s going to say, ‘I’m so sorry you’re going to die — I wish you were like me and not going to die.’ Everybody’s going to die. At least I’ve lived to fucking 90; I didn’t die at 9, or 19 or 29. I’m 90, and I’ve had the best possible life I could have thought of.”
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