The script that reduced Michael Caine to tears before he even finished reading it
There’s something so wholesome about Michael Caine’s face. It’s not that he’s one of those actors who’s only ever played the good guy. His discography has always been varied, with the decades of his career seeing him wander the whole cinematic landscape from action flicks to comedies, romantic movies to thrillers. But there was one role that stood out as truly tender in his heart.
When Caine first emerged, he was truly the bright young thing. After years and years of climbing the ladder, doing long, exhausting runs in the theatre on stage, piling up walk-on roles in the hope that the right person might discover him, it finally happened. He got his true breakthrough in Zulu, catapulting him to global recognition as a new name to note, being granted an impressive seven-year contract with a studio keen to mould him into a star.
Then the calls kept coming. First, it was The Ipcress File, a spy film that brought him into the world of action. But then it was Alfie, a comedy that showed Caine’s leading man potential as he played the titular womaniser. It kept going like that as the star stayed booked and busy across so many different styles and worlds, culminating in 1969 with The Italian Job, the cinematic success that well and truly solidified Caine’s position as a future icon.
For decades now, Caine has been a mainstay on screens, raking up perhaps one of the most impressive filmographies around as he has truly never stopped. They’ve also never become more limited. Even in recent years, the actor’s resume is vast and varied. In 2017 alone, he helped out providing voice to Christopher Nolan’s war epic, Dunkirk, and also starred in Zack Braff’s comedy Going in Style. In 2020, he was in both the intense sci-fi Tenet and the fantasy film Come Away. Still now, Caine won’t be boxed in.
But there’s something so wholesome about Michael Caine’s face! He was told that at the start, he was warned that perhaps his look was slightly too feminine to ever truly break into hunky leading man territory. Yet as he’s got older, as much as he’s clearly tried to resist it, he’s definitely settled into being the perfect pick to play the sweet old man.
Usually, those aren’t the scripts that inspire him. But in this case, he made an exception. “I loved doing this,” he said, talking about 2017’s Is Anybody There?.
It’s a tender movie about a retired magician who befriends a young boy who lives in his retirement home, owned by his parents. It’s the connection between Caine’s ageing Clarence and the ten-year-old Edward that leads this film, as the childlike wonder of their friendship helps the elderly man as dementia sets in, and encourages the young boy out of his shell. It’s heartwarming, and Caine was moved by it instantly.
“I was reading it, and I got halfway through and I rang him and I said, ‘I’ll do it.’ He said, ‘Do you like it?’ I said, ‘I haven’t finished it yet.’ He said, ‘Well why are you calling me before you finish?’ I said, ‘Because I’m crying and I wanted something to do,’” Caine recalled of the moment the script landed on his desk. It was an immediate reaction, unlike anything else he’d ever experienced.
“No script had ever done that to me before. And I don’t cry easily, believe me, honestly. And I just thought it was a wonderful thing to do,” Caine said, knowing that a script that moved him so much had to be one to take on.
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