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He’s hinted at it before, but now it seems like Michael Caine is officially giving up his acting career – due to a lack of good leading roles.
The 90-year-old British double Oscar winner told the BBC on Friday that his latest film, “The Great Escaper,” will be his final appearance on screen.
“I keep saying I’m retiring. “Well, I am now,” he told the BBC radio news program Today.
“I thought, I have a picture that I starred in and got incredible reviews… What should I do to top this?”
He added that the lack of leading roles for a man his age played a role in his decision.
“The only roles I’m likely to get now are 90-year-old men. Or maybe 85.
“You won’t be the main character. At 90 there are no longer any leading men, but rather young, pretty boys and girls. So I thought I might as well go with all that.”
His words bring down the curtain on an extraordinarily long career that spanned 77 years and earned him 176 IMDB credits, including two Oscar wins for Best Supporting Actor – for “Hannah and Her Sisters” in 1986 and for “The Cider House Rules.” ” in 1999.
In “The Great Escaper” he plays the real Bernard Jordan, a war veteran who left his nursing home on the British south coast without telling his wife or his job to attend the 70th anniversary commemorations on the Normandy coast Day commemoration. He stars alongside the late Glenda Jackson, who died shortly after the film was completed.
The actor recently caused a stir when he questioned the need for intimacy coordinators on film sets.
“Really? Seriously? What are you? We never had that in my time. Thank God, I’m 90 and don’t play lovers anymore, is all I can say. In my time you just shot the love scene and moved on , without anyone interfering. Everything has changed.”