“If it’s a comedy, fall over it”: Michael Caine Could Not Believe the Advice he Got After a Chair Got Stuck on a Door
Sir Michael Caine, who has starred in close to 160 films over the course of a career spanning eight decades, is unquestionably one of the best performers in the business. He is considered a British film legend. One of only five male performers to obtain an Academy Award nomination for acting in five distinct decades, Michael Caine has earned the title of a living legend. In 2000, the English actor was awarded a BAFTA fellowship and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to the film industry.
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Night Trilogy, Interstellar, The Italian Job, The Man Who Would Be King, and many other films feature Caine, and the actor has a very straightforward outlook on life that has assured his success, which is to never hide from the challenges life throws at you.
Michael Caine explains how he learned his life philosophy
During a conversation with Michael Parkinson via Far Out Magazine, the celebrated actor Sir Michael Caine explained his very simple yet effective approach towards life, which is to never hide from challenges but rather face them. He said,
“I got it from a… I was rehearsing a play when I was a very young actor. And I had to go to the stage; it was a stage play; I’m behind the flats waiting to open the door. There was an improvised scene between a husband and a wife going on inside. And they got carried away.”
He continued to explain further,
“They started throwing things, and he threw a chair, and it lodged in the doorway. And I went to open the door, and I got my head around, and I went, ‘I’m sorry, sir, I can’t get in’. He said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘There’s a chair there’. He said to me, ‘Use the difficulty’.”
Caine said at the time he found it strange for the director to suggest something like using the difficulty but later he understood the thing the director wanted him to learn, which the actor says gave him a different perspective on life. He continued to share that he did ask the director at the time about what he meant, which the director told him,
‘”Well, if it’s a comedy, fall over it. If it’s a drama, pick it up and smash it.’ He said, ‘Use the difficulty.’”
Michael Caine says ‘use the difficulty’ provided him with the best way of living
Further in the conversation, the actor mentioned that the three words said by the director at the time had a significant impact on his life and he elaborated during the interview,
“And so, there’s never anything so bad that you cannot use that difficulty. If you can use it a quarter of 1% to your advantage, you’re ahead if you didn’t let it get you down, you know. That’s my philosophy; use the difficulty.”
Sir Michael Caine also suggested an added philosophy that if someone can avoid those, then they should do that at all costs. It resulted in laughter from the audience. It did make a lot of sense, but that has not stopped the actor from giving his best shot every time, even if it is to question something at times.
In an interview with Daily Mail, the actor spoke about the need for intimacy coordinators now compared to the times when people didn’t know about them. He said,
“Really? Seriously? What are they? We never had that in my day. Thank God I’m 90 and don’t play lovers anymore is all I can say. In my day, you just did the love scene and got on with it without anyone interfering. It’s all changed.”
Also read: Oppenheimer: Every Actor Who has Worked With Christopher Nolan More Than Once
Michael Caine on The Great Escaper probably being his final movie
The Great Escaper will premiere in the United Kingdom on October 6th and talking about the fact that it could be his final movie, Caine said, “I am bloody 90 now, and I can’t walk properly and all that. I am sort of retired now.”
The brilliant and cherished actor said he was so happy to do The Great Escaper because he loved the character of Bernie as he thought he was incredible and beautifully written, pointing out that because of the pandemic he had not done a movie in three years and assumed that he was done, but suddenly then, this came up and he signed up for it and expressed that he had a wonderful time filming it.
The director, Oliver Parker, also shared with The Telegraph,
“We were careful to ensure that Michael wasn’t working too hard and having to negotiate him moving around at the pace he did. But for him to have returned to acting after not having made a film in a while, and in the way he did, was quite a thing.”
The actor finally said he felt happy and satisfied with his life.
Source: Far Out Magazine
