‘Frenzy’: The movie that made Alfred Hitchcock ignore Michael Caine
There aren’t many movies in the canon of Michael Caine that can be considered truly horrifying. Like any actor, there are some roles Caine would likely prefer were left in the dustbins of time and, sure, like any professional there are a number of performances he delivered purely for the paycheque. However, no movies of his come to mind that should leave any audience member in a truly furious state.
It is perhaps from this lofty moral high ground that the actor was able to reject one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most notoriously vulgar movies, Frenzy. The picture is considered one of the veteran director’s most brutal depictions of humanity, but it also turns out that Caine’s refusal to partake in the project led to him engaging in a classic Hollywood feud.
The story within Frenzy is classic Hitchcock, plunging an innocent man into a shadowy world of intrigue and suspense as he’s wrongly accused of being the infamous necktie killer. Jon Finch delivers a compelling performance, full of earnest vulnerability, that firmly anchors the drama. However, the real star is Hitchcock himself. His mastery of the camera transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.
However, it is impossible to see Frenzy without realising it was the most explicit of Hitchcock’s filmography. Featuring nude scenes as well as graphic murders. Even the director’s daughter wouldn’t allow her children to watch the picture for many years.
Caine rejected the chance to portray the killer in the movie, with the role instead going to Barry Foster. He wasn’t the only actor to reject the acclaimed filmmaker; both Helen Mirren and Vanessa Redgrave refused to be a part of the project. The reason was that the movie was based on true events, something that didn’t sit well with Caine.
“He offered me the part of a sadist who murdered women, and I won’t play that,” explained Caine. There are likely many reasons Caine turned down the job, but arriving on his desk in 1972 following the success of Get Carter, The Italian Job and The Ipcress Files, Caine likely had an eye on being the leading British actor on Hollywood. Putting himself into the role of a maniacal killer was a career-suicide.
However, the British actor claimed it was another, more wholesome, reason for his refusal: “I have a sort of moral thing, and I refused to play it, and he never spoke to me again. It was a film based on a real killer who cut women to smithereens. I said, ‘I can’t play this. I don’t want to play it.'”
It was a big call. Caine always maintained that he was desperate to work with Hitchcock, he just couldn’t bring himself to become the murderer of the story. But, for the director, Caine’s rejection was tough to take, and though he would only make one more movie, Caine was never considered for it. In fact, Caine was largely ignored from thereon. “I would see him every Friday at Chasen’s restaurant [in Los Angeles],” confirmed Caine, “and he would totally ignore me.”
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