Michael Caine Is Officially Retiring, For Real This Time

In a recent interview with BBC Radio 4 Today, acting legend Sir Michael Caine discussed his upcoming film, "The Great Escaper," along with some shocking (or not) news: it will also be his last film.

As Caine tells it, he already considered himself retired when he received the script and turned it down three times. Reading it eventually won him over (for reference, it's based on a true story from 2014, when a World War 2 veteran escaped his retirement home to attend a D-Day 70th anniversary celebration). Caine fell so "in love" with the script that he decided it would be a good high note to end his 70+ year career on. Caine said:

"I kept saying I'm gonna retire. Well, I am now because I figured, I've had a picture where I've played the lead, and it's got incredible reviews. The only parts I'm likely to get now are old men, 90-year-old men — well, maybe 85, you know? And I thought, 'Well, I might as well leave with all this. I've got wonderful reviews. What am I gonna do to beat this?'"

Indeed, Caine has teased his retirement many times in the past. He's said before that if he were to retire, it would be because the offers stopped coming. As he put it back in 2021, "There's not exactly scripts pouring out with a leading man who's 88." Since "The Great Escaper" is that rare script and he could easily not get another opportunity like it, he's content capping off his career with it.

The rumors of Caine's retirement first swirled in 2009 when he was promoting his new film "Harry Brown." During the film's Toronto premiere, Caine said that any retirement rumors were the result of him being misquoted. When asked if he was going to retire, Caine answered: "'You don't retire in this business, the business retires you." Apparently, the reporter in question took the latter part as Caine admitting the business was about to "retire him."

In 2021, Caine said on BBC Radio's "Kermode and Mayo's Film Review," that his then-new film, "Best Sellers," would probably be his last. Probably because he still wasn't electively retiring: "There haven't been any offers honestly for two years, because nobody's been making any movies I'd wanna do."

However, (social) media still took this as an official retirement announcement. On October 16, 2021, Caine tweeted: "I haven't retired and not a lot of people know that." He also told Variety this: "Regarding retirement, I've spent over 50 years getting up at 6 a.m. to make movies, and I'm not getting rid of my alarm clock!"

What makes 2023 different? It sounds like Caine's attitude that "the business retires [actors]" hasn't changed, but he's also being a realist. At age 90, odds are he won't get another role that he likes as much as "The Great Escaper" again. Plus, he describes the shoot as a physically challenging experience.

Caine is not spending his time just relaxing, though. Having turned his creative spirit to writing, his debut novel, a spy thriller titled "Deadly Game," is due for release in December 2023. He's said before that he doesn't want to live to be 100, which means he's still got nine years to become Britain's next great author.

"The Great Escaper" is playing in theaters.