Michael Caine Confirms He Has Not Retired From Acting

Michael Caine, best known for his role as Alfred Pennyworth in the Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, recently had fans worried that he was on the verge of retiring from the world of acting. While on Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review discussing his upcoming film Best Sellers, Caine said, “Funnily enough, it has turned out to be my last part, really. Because I haven’t worked for two years, and I have a spine problem which affects my leg, so I can’t walk very well.”

“I think it would be (his last film), yeah,” Caine continued. “There haven’t been any offers, obviously, for two years. Because nobody’s been making any movies I’d want to do. But also, I’m 88. There’s not exactly scripts pouring out where the leading man is 88.”

However, the two-time Academy Award winner shot down that idea in a statement this week. 

“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!” Caine told Variety. He also posted a staement on Twitter — “I haven’t retired and not a lot of people know that.”

He also recently talked with the outlet about the idea of retirement. The London native first began acting at the age of 20 and will turn 89 next March. 

“I never did retire. I mean I’m 88 — people are not knocking at my door trying to give me a script. But occasionally there is a part,” he said during an interview in August. “If I retired at 65, I would never have won an Academy Award [for ‘Cider House Rules’], I would never have done a picture with Jack Nicholson and would not have done all those [Batman] movies with Christopher Nolan.”

Andy Serkis will be the next actor to portray Pennyworth in the upcoming The Batman film. He recently talked with LADBible about how Caine’s performance helped inspire his own. 

“[Caine] was fantastic. His Alfred was legendary, I couldn’t even begin to go there, really,” Serkis said. “You find it for yourself. It’s like playing these iconic roles in Shakespeare, you go back, you revisit them and you have to make it your own, and see what it is about he character that connects with you and your personal venn diagram.”