Michael Caine says 'I haven't retired' after saying he's 'done with movies now'
Michael Caine is causing confusion about whether he'll continue acting or not.
The 88-year-old actor told a BBC Radio program Friday that his latest film "Best Sellers" (streaming on demand) would be his last. He again insinuated that he's stepping away from acting in an interview published by The Guardian Monday.
However, Caine clarified that he hasn't retired in a short tweet over the weekend. "I havenāt retired and not a lot of people know that," he wrote Saturday.
He added in a statement to Variety: "Regarding retirement, Iāve spent over 50 years getting up at 6 a.m. to make movies, and Iām not getting rid of my alarm clock!"
USA TODAY has reached out to Caine's manager for more information.
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When speaking on "Kermode and Mayo's Film Review" Friday, Caine said his role as cranky author Harris Shaw in "Best Sellers" has "turned out to be" his "last part."
"I haven't worked for two years, and I have a spine problem, which affects my legs. So, I can't walk very well," Caine explained. "And I also wrote a book, a couple of books, which were published and were successful. So, I'm now not an actor, I'm a writer."
The "Going In Style" star shared a similar sentiment with The Guardian where he laughed at the idea of playing a character that had to run away from a bunch of crooks.
"I canāt walk, let alone run,ā he told the outlet. āAnd Iām more or less done with movies now.ā
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The Academy Award-winning actor has dozens of movie credits spanning six decades: "Iāve done 150 movies. I think Iāve done enough."
Caine also admitted that while he is doing "well," his mind is not as sharp as it used to be. When asked if his character in "Best Sellers" was based on an old director he once worked with, Caine insisted he couldn't remember and that his "mindās not as agile as it used to be."
"I canāt walk and I canāt stand for very long and now I donāt know whether my bloody memoryās going," he told The Guardian.
Still, he said he used time during the pandemic to write a novel, his first try at fiction after several memoirs, and hopes to get it published next year.
"The title is 'If You Donāt Want to Die.' I only read thrillers. Iām an adventure man, Iām not a literature person, so Iām not trying to replace Shakespeare here. But itās based on something I once read about two dustmen, two rubbish collectors in the East End," Caine said. "And they find uranium in the rubbish."
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