Michael Caine has been entertaining audiences for some six decades. That’s a while. The guy could use a break. And yet a couple years back the two-time Oscar-winning actor denied claims he was finally retiring. Then last month he claimed he probably was. Now he’s really, officially calling it quits.
“I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well I am now,” the beloved thespian and friend of the Muppets told the BBC Friday, as per Deadline. One reason he’s cool throwing in the towel? He can say he went out on top.
“I’ve figured, I’ve had a picture where I’ve played the lead and had incredible reviews,” Caine said, referring to the new drama The Great Escaper. “What am I going to do that will beat this?”
Caine’s also not thrilled with the jobs he, 90, is offered these days.
“The only parts I’m liable to get now are 90-year-old men. Or maybe 85,” he said. “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.”
In The Great Escaper, Caine plays Bernard Jordan, a real-life war veteran who attends the 70th anniversary of D-Day. It will not only be Caine’s final film. His co-star, fellow two-time Academy Award-winner Glenda Jackson, died shortly after filming wrapped.
Over Caine’s long, storied career, he’s been comfortable toggling between leads (Alfie, Get Carter), co-leads with fellow titans (two Sleuths, The Man Who Would Be King, Deathtrap), the head of an ensemble (The Italian Job, Muppet Christmas Carol), and anchoring supporting roles (Hannah and Her Sisters, all those Nolans). He’s one of the greats and even though everyone will miss seeing him in new roles, his body of work will live on forever.
(Via Deadline)