The movie that made Michael Caine’s “impossible dream” a reality: “It was all coming true”
All actors have that one director they’d do anything to work with. Getting to collaborate with a filmmaker that you’ve admired for years is surely one of the most exciting parts of being an actor; not only do you get to meet one of your idols, but you also get to create a piece of art with them.
Michael Caine never thought he’d actually be able to become an actor. He’d grown up working-class, and there were hardly any British actors from a similar background seen on screens during the 1950s. Most stars were well-off and had studied extensively at acting schools, while Caine had gained his experience as an assistant stage manager at a local theatre following his return from the army. Yet, he loved the idea of becoming an actor, and after landing small roles in stage productions, he started to appear in uncredited roles on screen, building his way up to more prominent parts.
Eventually, Caine struck gold when he landed a part in Zulu, before following it with the acclaimed spy film The Ipcress File and his Academy Award-nominated performance in Alfie as a womanising Cockney who soon faces the consequences of his actions. The star became one of the most prominent actors of his generation, defining a new era of British cinema where working-class representation was more prominent than ever.
By the 1970s, however, he had branched out to bigger productions, and in 1975, he got to work with one of his favourite directors, making his “impossible dream” come true. Not only was this how he saw his chances of becoming an actor when he was just starting out, but he also considered working with his favourite filmmaker an “impossible dream” that he couldn’t quite believe had come true.
In his memoir What’s It All About, Caine wrote, “I remembered how, as a boy, my impossible dream had been to become an actor. In a [John] Huston film I had seen called The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, a bunch of misfits were looking for gold, which was their impossible dream, and in it I had identified with the [Humphrey] Bogart character, the ‘nobody’ trying to become a ‘somebody’ – that was me.”
Finding a sense of kinship with the 1948 film, he was honoured to be approached to appear in Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King. Even better, the role he was offered was initially meant for Bogart; Caine now felt as though he’d made it. “Now here I was playing a part that was meant for Bogart and even in this story, Peachy and Danny were two British Army sergeants in India, who set out on their own quest to become the kings of an ancient realm of fabulous wealth called Kafiristan. I was doing the impossible dream – making a film with Huston – about an impossible dream, and it was all coming true,” he wrote.
The Man Who Would Be King also starred Sean Connery, and it was incredibly well-received, racking up four Academy Award nominations. Caine knew that the movie would be good, however, and he didn’t even bother reading the script before he accepted the part, trusting that Huston would be able to deliver a movie worthy of acclaim.
Caine recalled a conversation with Huston where the actor assured him that he had his full faith in the project. “‘Don’t you want to read the script?’ he asked, surprised. ‘John,’ I said. ‘With you directing, a story by Rudyard Kipling and a part that Bogart was going to play, what have I got to lose?’”
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Michael Caine Newsletter
All the latest stories about Michael Caine from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.