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Sir Michael Caine retires from acting at 90
posted by wonder2wonderSTAFFMOD on October 18, 2023 at 12:19 PM
BBC Radio 4's Today programme
BBC Sounds: Music, radio, podcast
Released On: 14 Oct 2023
Available for over a year
Michael Caine: I'm retiring from film
🔊 Sir Michael Caine talks to Martha Kearney about what he says will be his last film - (audio only)
News articles
... Excerpt from Sir Michael Caine announces his retirement from acting
“I keep saying I'm going to retire – well I am now,” he said. “I've figured, I've had a picture where I've played the lead and had incredible reviews. What am I going to do that will beat this?
"The only parts I'm liable to get now are 90-year-old men – or maybe 85. They're not going to be the lead. You don't have leading men at 90, you're going to have young handsome boys and girls. So I thought, I might as well leave with all this."
He continued: "I was sent a script actually, and I looked at it, and then I did something I've never done before. I counted how many pages I had [and] compared to the number of pages in the script.
“And it was 15 [pages of dialogue] in a script which was 99 pages. And I thought, 'I think that counts as a small part, I'm not doing it.' So I retired. I thought, 'I'm ahead here, I may do a little part and get a bad review, so I thought, why not leave now?' So I've left.”
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Reply by rooprect
on October 18, 2023 at 11:43 PM
Nice he's going out on a high note. I haven't seen his latest film but it has pretty strong reviews across the board.
I still think he might come back if offered a great role (that's what he's kinda implying), but he has a point that there aren't too many great leads for 90 year old actors. Might as well throw a farewell party on a big hit.
Reply by DRDMovieMusings
on October 19, 2023 at 11:19 PM
There can be good films for seniors — Last Vegas (which I've seen) or The Bucket List or 80 for Brady (which I haven't seen) spring to mind. But it may be that scripts that even mildly contemplate mortality may not be all that fun.
I'll bet we both always wanted a sequel to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels! I kinda lost hope that could ever happen when Glenn Headly passed (RIP); but, if a sequel that did indeed put Caine on 70 of those 99 script pages was well-written, I sure hope he'd reconsider.
But, hey, if anyone knows this business, it's Michael Caine, who also happens to be the foremost authority on how Michael Caine feels. If he's done and happy, I'm happy for him!
Reply by tmdb91967014
on October 19, 2023 at 11:44 PM
Tsk. At any rate, good of Caine to remind us that guys his age can still live a life for as long as they want.
Reply by rooprect
on October 20, 2023 at 8:10 PM
If they do a sequel to DRS I'll be there on opening night with my pots & pans and my trident!
OklahomaOklahomaOklahomaOklahoma!!!!