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Michael Caine reflects on Youth and old age

Caine, 82, is known just about everywhere. Some know him as the star of British classics like Alfie, The Italian Job and Get Carter. Others know him as Batman's butler (and a regular of just about every Christopher Nolan movie).

Michael Caine sits down for lunch at the St. Regis Hotel in midtown New York clutching a copy of the day's Daily News given to him by the hotel doorman, who's earmarked a photo of Caine and his Youth co-star Jane Fonda.
"You wonder why I stay here," he chuckles. "I always remember the sort of joke thing in the British paper where the journalist said to the duchess, 'What's the best restaurant in London?' And she said, 'Where you're known, dear.' And I apply that to a lot of what I do."
Caine, 82, is known just about everywhere. Some know him as the star of British classics like Alfie, The Italian Job and Get Carter. Others know him as Batman's butler (and a regular of just about every Christopher Nolan movie). Some might even know him just by the ubiquitous impressions of his indelible cockney accent, like Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's dueling Michael Caines in The Trip.
In Paolo Sorrentino's Youth, Caine puts a capstone on a career that has travelled from working-class upstart to cinema institution. Like most things in life, he's enjoying it.
Working now and then, Caine lives relatively quietly, focused on his family; he and his wife, Shakira Baksh, are moving from their updated barn outside London, so their 25-minute drive to their grandchildren can be cut down to 5. But he's also soaking up the adulation for his aged classical composer in Youth, which some think could land him his sixth Oscar nomination.
"I've been nominated (for best actor) four times and I have never won," he says, smiling. "I fly for 11 hours to clap another actor and then go home. It's a long way! So I'm not exactly clearing shelves. I've got two Oscars, anyway."
Sorrentino, the Italian director of the Oscar-winning The Great Beauty, wanted Caine for his combination of authority and levity -- a description that hits on Caine's unique blend of good cheer and gravitas. Caine first struck Sorrentino in Woody Allen's Hannah and her Sisters: "When I saw that, I thought: I would like to be like Michael Caine in life."
Wouldn't we all. Though Caine doesn't share his character's melancholy or regret he's similarly reflective - a two-time memoirist and an eager, colourful storyteller. "They say I'm a raconteur but what are you going to do?" he said. "There are stories to tell."
ON RETIREMENT
"What am I going to do? Sit around and watch soaps on television all day? That's why I never retired. I retire mentally every time. I regard myself retired now. I don't have another script to do, so I'm retired. I always had this phrase that I said many times to reporters: You don't retire in movies. Movies retire you. (AP: Yet they're not.) That's the point. I retire and they say, "Oh, no you're not."
ON HIS BREAKTHROUGH
"Alfie was a stage play which I auditioned for and never got. I was the last choice of anybody. I shared a flat with Terence Stamp and he was offered Alfie. I spent two days trying to talk him into doing it. Laurence Harvey, Anthony Newley were offered it. Funny enough, everyone turned it down because there was an abortion sequence in it. It was the first time I was nominated for an Oscar. But I had seen Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons, so I didn't even bother to turn up."
ON COMING TO HOLLYWOOD
"The first party I went to in Hollywood, Shirley MacLaine gave to welcome me to Hollywood. The first people to walk in were Gloria Swanson and Frank Sinatra. I was dumbstruck. Then she took me to dinner at Danny Kaye's house. There were only two other people there. One was Cary Grant and the other one was Prince Philip. I'm sitting there. I've been in Hollywood for three weeks. I took Shirley home. She lived in the Valley. As we got near to her home, I said, 'Look! Your house is on fire.' She said, 'Michael, that's steam from the pool.'"
ON TURNING DOWN ALFRED HITCHCOCK
"I knew Hitchcock. We were from the same area, Londoners. When I first went to Hollywood for Gambit, my bungalow at Universal was next to his. We became friends. Then when he offered me Frenzy, he asked me to play a sadistic murderer of women and I wouldn't do it. And he never spoke to me again."
ON BATMAN AND HIS GRANDSON
"We have very much a father-and-son relationship. When he was about four, I was watching cartoons with him. And a commercial for Batman came on, and he looked at me and he went, 'You know Batman?' I said, 'Yeah' and he said, 'Wow, that's fantastic.'"
ON POOL SCENE OF 'YOUTH' WITH A NUDE BEAUTY MODEL
"Paolo never told us about that, you know. He said to Harvey (Keitel) and me, 'Get in the pool. There's no dialogue.' He said 'Action!' and Madalina (Ghenea) walked in. Well that's the best acting you've ever seen on our faces because that's absolute reality."
ON IMPROVISING ON 'YOUTH'
"I had this habit of saying another funny line, which is just stupid. It's not going to be in the movie, but just to get a laugh. I'll do anything to get a laugh. But there was one where my daughter (Rachel Weisz) was sitting crying behind me and I couldn't see her. I just said, 'Stop crying.' And he left it in the movie. I like relaxation on a set, so I'm always going for a laugh. I can't act in a tense atmosphere."