Michael Caine Says 'I Won't Be Here' in Heartbreakingly Candid Interview About the Future
Caine said that while he "won't be here" to see the next generation do big things, he'll be watching "from upstairs."
Michael Caine recently gave a heartbreakingly candid interview where he spoke about the future and said, "I won't be here." The 90-year-old retired actor made the comment during a conversation with Matthew d'Ancona, on the media platform Fane. The pair were speaking about Caine's new fiction book, Deadly Game, when Caine began to gush over the "new and exciting world" that will be ushered in by the next generation of artists and creators.
"I have two grandsons – one is 14 and one is 15. If you talk to them, you'd think they're 20 and 21," Caine said, per Express U.K. "They're so advanced it's fabulous. I think the younger generation are much smarter than my lot." After d'Ancona inquired if Caine was eager to see what the next generation would accomplish, the iconic actor replied, "Oh my god, yeah. I won't be here to see it, but I'll watch it from upstairs."
Caine announced his retirement from acting earlier this year, telling the BBC, "I keep saying I'm going to retire. Well, I am now." He added: "I've figured, I've had a picture where I've played the lead and had incredible reviews... What am I going to do that will beat this?"
The two-time Osacr-winner then added, "The only parts I'm liable to get now are 90-year-old men. Or maybe 85. They're not going to be the lead. You don't have leading men at 90, you're going to have young handsome boys and girls. So, I thought, I might as well leave with all this."
Caine's final on-screen role is in The Great Escaper, which was released in the U.K. back in October. The movie is a biopic drama based on the true story of 89-year-old British World War II Royal Navy veteran Bernard Jordan who escaped his nursing home in June 2014 so that he could attend the 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France. The Great Escaper is directed by Oliver Parker, from a script written by William Ivory. In addition to Caine, the film also stars fellow two-time Academy Award-winner Glenda Jackson. Sadly, Jackson passed away in June, prior to the movie's premiere. She was 87 years old at the time of her death.