“Fuck it, I retire”: James Caan’s reaction to missing out on so many iconic roles
In 1978, the legendarily volatile James Caan received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was an appropriate reward for a decade that saw him rise to the top of the mountain thanks to roles in classics like The Godfather, Rollerball, The Gambler, and A Bridge Too Far. Unfortunately, that last title may have been too painfully apt for an actor like Caan, who always seemed ill at ease with leading man stardom. After all, he retired from acting for five long years in the ’80s after losing out on many iconic roles while battling personal demons.
In truth, while Caan did miss out on some movies that became huge hits for their stars, he also turned down his fair share of future classics. For example, he was offered the Dustin Hoffman part in Kramer vs. Kramer, thinking the picture was nothing more than “middle-class, bourgeois horsecrap”. He took a gander at One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest but felt it wouldn’t be visual enough to work. While being wooed by Coppola for Apocalypse Now, he baulked at spending 16 weeks in the jungles of the Philippines. Best of all, though, was turning down Superman, despite the protests of his Godfather buddy Marlon Brando. Why? Because he didn’t want to wear a cape and tights.
During this period, Caan’s personal life made the headlines almost as much as his films did. He was a keen boxer, skier, and rodeo rider – even referring to himself as the “only Jewish cowboy from New York on the professional rodeo cowboy circuit.” The police interrogated him for ten hours when an actor accidentally fell to his death from the fire escape of his apartment building, and a woman named Leesa Anne Roland sued him for physical battery, though the case was eventually dismissed.
Caan also had a propensity for partying and even went to live at the Playboy Mansion after one particularly tough breakup. He quipped to The Guardian in 1999, “There were tons of girls over there, and well, I’m sorry, but I liked ’em!”
In the early ’80s, though, any grip Caan had over his career and personal life slipped away. After making so many poor choices, coupled with the tragic death of his sister from leukaemia, Caan decided he’d had enough of the entire rat race. He confessed: “I said, ‘Fuck it, I retire.’ I thought I had enough money to keep me going, and I did until an accountant robbed me. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been permanently stoned.”
By Caan’s own admission, he “was on an extremely destructive kick.” He missed his sister terribly and felt he’d gone down the wrong path in his career, making him “angry, raging at the world.” Like a lot of people who find themselves in these unhealthy spirals, he reasoned, “Getting high and partying seemed like the best option.”
Interestingly, though, Caan told the Orlando Sentinel in 1992 that he felt Hollywood itself had also gone down the wrong path in the ’80s by granting directors too much power. He mused, “There were actors who were good and capable, but they would distract from the special effects. It was a period of time when I said, ‘I’m not going to work again.'”
In the end, the thing that brought Caan back to Hollywood was the same thing that motivates most people to work: money. By ’85, he’d been the victim of a car crash and had contemplated quitting acting for good, but then he saw something which shocked him into action.
He told the Los Angeles Times, “I was flat-ass broke. I didn’t want to work. But then, when the dogs got hungry and I saw their ribs, I decided that maybe now it’s a good idea.”
