Michael Caine has reportedly agreed to play Charles Darwin in a film that will begin production in January of 2024. The 90-year-old British actor will next be seen in the lead role in The Great Escaper, a feature that will open in cinemas in the UK on October 6.
Just last week, Caine had indicated that The Great Escaper would be his last film, telling a reporter for The Telegraph: “I am bloody 90 now, and I can’t walk properly and all that.”
Apparently, his thinking quickly evolved, for he told The Guardian this week: “Yeah, I play Charles Darwin. And that’ll be it. I won’t do another one after…the point is, can you do it? Can you remember all the lines?”
This is not the first time that Caine suggested he’d be retiring, only to change his mind. He recently told a reporter that he’s enjoying a period of “semi-retirement,” adding that “I’ve got used to not working and staying in bed till 11am and staying out late at night. I love it.”
Over the years, Caine has achieved legendary status after his performances in a host of acclaimed films such as Alfie, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Get Carter, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Italian Job, The Man Who Would Be King, Mona Lisa, The Quiet American, and Sleuth.
In The Great Escape, Caine stars with another legendary performer, the late Glenda Jackson, in a feature based on the real-life story of Bernard Jordan, a WWII veteran who fled his nursing home in 2014 to attend ceremonies marking the seventieth anniversary of the D-Day invasion. The film also marked the last role for Jackson, who died in June of this year at the age of 87.
In an acting career that began in 1950, Caine has appeared in more than 130 films as well as many television roles. He first came to prominence in 1964 with his performance in the film Zulu. He won an Academy Award for best actor for his role in Sleuth (1972).
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