Acting is one of those professions in which, if you're lucky enough, you could conceivably do it right up until the day you die, health issues notwithstanding. Take Michael Caine, for example. At age 84, he's still going strong on the big screen, with his movies in recent years including Interstellar, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Youth, The Last Witch Hunter and Now You See Me 2. He can be seen this weekend in the comedy Going In Style, but as an octogenarian, does Caine believe that he will ever retire from this line of work? He doesn't think so. In fact, he believes that most actors don't retire from the movies; it's the other way around. As Caine sees it:
No, the movies retires you. You don't retire from the movies. You don't get a script or the script's crap or the money's no good and you say, 'I'd rather stay home and watch TV.'
While plugging Going In Style, Michael Caine provided the above take to UPI, saying that it's not so much that actors choose to retire from acting, it's that situations present themselves where the actor simply decides not to participate, whether it's for a short or long period of time. Obviously there are exceptions to this, but Caine and other likeminded actors would prefer to work as long as possible. That said, if the current projects aren't rolling in, there are payment issues, etc, then "retirement" is pushed from the other side. If there's anyone who has a unique perspective on the acting craft, it's Caine. This has been the man's profession for over 60 years across movies, television, theatre and even a video game. His views on acting retirement can't be applicable 100% of the time, but they're interesting nonetheless.
Not only is Michael Caine not planning to stop acting anytime soon, but neither are his two Going In Style costars, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin. When they were asked the same question about retirement, Freeman balked at the idea, while Arkin said that over the last six to seven years, he's questioned when his character in a script will die, and he's been pleased with how far he's made it into these stories. That led Caine to quip the following:
I look at all these parts and I say, 'I go home early on that day.' Because I go out before the conversation finishes.
Check out the Going In Style trailer below to get a taste of the retiree shenanigans Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin will be getting into.
Going In Style will be released in theaters on tomorrow. Don't forget to check out our comprehensive 2017 guide to find out when the year's other big movies are coming out.
