Michael Caine’s “worst audition” was also his most ironic failure: “I wanted it too much”
Every actor can admit to an audition that they’re not proud of; it’s just an inevitable part of having a career in showbiz.
Michael Caine might be one of the most acclaimed actors to have emerged from Britain during the 1960s – a pivotal time in the country’s cinematic development, with more working-class actors gaining opportunities for the first time – but he can still admit to various career failures. While many stars are too proud and full of themselves to ever reveal their mistakes, Caine has laid out various bad decisions in the open.
In fact, some of Caine’s worst decisions have been entire movie roles, like his part in Jaws: The Revenge. Going into the film, he knew that it wasn’t going to be a masterpiece anywhere close to the level of Steven Spielberg’s original, but Caine knew it would pay the bills, and sometimes that just has to be done.
For the most part, however, Caine’s career has been filled with impressive hits, like 1960s and ‘70s classics such as The Italian Job, The Ipcress File, and Get Carter, as well as later acclaimed movies ranging from Educating Rita to The Dark Knight.
Yet, it was his leading role in Alfie that allowed him to break through as a notable star, all the way back in 1966. The movie earned him an Oscar nomination for ‘Best Actor’, and he proved himself to be a charming figure who could easily command a screen. Before he landed the role in Lewis Gilbert’s film, though, he had actually auditioned for the stage play version a few years earlier.
You’d think that with his acclaimed performance in the film coming several years later, he wouldn’t have had any issues auditioning for the theatrical version, but Caine calls it his worst audition. It seems like nerves simply got the better of the budding actor, who had only landed a few minor roles on stage and screen by this point.
In his book Blowing the Bloody Doors Off, the actor revealed, “My worst audition? From a large and strong field of competitors, I would have to pick my audition for the theatre play of Alfie in 1963. I wanted it too much and I got very nervous because of that and because I was overawed by being in the West End.”
Caine didn’t get the part, and he instead had an uncredited role in the film The Wrong Arm of the Law that year: “I completely screwed up the line. So that was it. I was distraught. The man they cast was a wonderful classical actor called John Neville, a lovely guy with the most beautiful classical voice. He sounded like John Gielgud.”
So, while Caine messed up his audition, he needn’t have worried. Within just three years, he had earned a nomination from the most prestigious institution in cinema for his role in the film version of Alfie. That’s not bad going for someone who was “distraught” that they’d ruined their chances at landing a West End gig.
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