By Iain Blair

I’ve talked to Michael Caine many times over the years, been to his Beverly Hills home when he lived here, and always found him to be one of the most entertaining people in the biz. He called me at home the other day for a piece I’m doing on him, and we caught up. He was at home in Box Hill, England, and told me it was “still too cold” to be out gardening – one of his passions. At an age – he just turned 76 – when most of his contemporaries have long since retired, Sir Michael – he was knighted in 2000 – is still going strong and has two big new projects; Is There Anybody There and Harry Brown coming out soon. He told me that he has “no intention of retiring” and says that acting is more fun for him now, “because I’ve got to an age where I don’t get the girl anymore, I get the part! So you no longer have the constraints of being a movie star, the part’s gotta be this big, I’ve gotta get the  girl. Now I can do what I like, and I only do things that I really enjoy.” With a career spanning over half a century and encompassing more than 100 films, the star is a two-time Academy Award winner - he won his first Oscar, for Best Supporting Actor, for his work in Hannah and Her Sisters, for which he also received Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations. He took home his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in The Cider House Rules, also winning a SAG Award and earning Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations. But although he’s worked almost non-stop throughout his career, he has had some down times, he told me. “ I took a long time off when I wrote my autobiography, and then I got lazy and I didn’t want to come back,” he admits. “Then when I wanted to come back nobody knew who the hell I was, I couldn’t get a job. Then finally I got Blood and Wine with Jack Nicholson, and Bob Rafelson, and that got me back.” And he hasn’t looked back since.

Share This

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 11:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.