Michael Caine
CITIZEN CAINE
Updated for new site 12/04/03(will be updated for new site shortly 12/11/10)
Film starred in previous to ETV: Dressed to Kill
Film starred in after ETV: The Hand (Note this is by release schedule, however he worked on The Hand before starting production on ETV, technically the next film after Victory was Deathtrap)
Most likely to be remembered for: Italian Job, Harry Palmer(Ipcress File etc), Escape to Victory, The Man who would be King, Zulu, Educating Rita, Get Carter, Dirty Rotten Scoundrals, Cider House Rules etc etc
Would probably like everyone to forget: etc The Swarm, Jaws the Revenge, Posseiden the return
Filmography: IMDB entry
Amount Paid for role in ETV: $1 Million
Sir Michael Caine has been a legend of the screen ever since his big break in Zulu in 1963. In Escape to Victory he plays Captain John Colby, a footballer, whose career for West Ham was postponed because of the war. After being captured and put into a POW camp he organises the camps football matches as a way to pass the time. When Von Steiner (Max Von Sydow) offers him the chance to play a "friendly" against troops from the local barracks, he accepts on the proviso of getting better conditions for the prisoners.
His character arranges for the release of several Eastern European players which the nazis say technacally "Do not exist" due to their ethnicity, and so when the German propaganda machine takes the match out of Colby and Von Steiner's hands he is forced with the dilemma of playing for the sakes of the prisoners, or facing a court marshal back home. Colby decides he has to play, but leaves the decision to the rest of the players, who also agree to go ahead with the game.
Interesting facts:
Michael played a german war officer called Colonel Steiner in the 1976 film The Eagle has landed.
Ipswich Town footballer Kevin Beattie acted as Caine's Body double in some of the football scenes
Exerpt from Arise Sir Michael Caine the Biography by William Hall:-
ISBN:1903402298
"The location was Budapest. That, for Caine and the rest of the western actors, was the big drawback. After three days they couldn't wait to get out - and they had to stay there for twelve weeks. For the film-makers it was an ideal site. Labour was cheap, holding the $12 million budget down to sizable proportions. The scenery was right, and there were no TV aerials to mar the horizon. 'It was a long location. Too long. I hadn't filmed in Budapest before, but I had gone there for Elizabeth Taylor's birthday party for four days, and I only remembered it in a sort of alcoholic haze. But when I got back there in the full clear light of day - bloody hell - Communism depresses me more than a little bit. 'I got over the depression by drinking too much cherry brandy, which is a real bugger. I was the only non-footballer in the team, so everyone used to attack me - particularly the Hungarian team who were playing as the Germans. But I had some good things with Bobby Moore and Pele. They made me look good every now and then, just to show I was better than they were, because I was supposed to be a better guy than all of them. You get in some funny situations in movies.'
ON STALLONE:- Caine and Stallone hit it off from the start. 'I like Sly. We used to get away together whenever we could. We would race to the airport on Friday nights waving our credit cards and shouting: "When's the next plane out - to anywhere?" Usually it was Paris or London. We would go eating, drinking and falling down a lot. He's a good man!'
ON THE FOOTBALL:- Pele and Bobby Moore took on the task of acting as Caine's personal coaches. 'They gave me advice all the time. Bobby's first tip was: "Don't get in the other team's way, otherwise they'll kill you!" And Pele showed me how to kick the ball properly. We were wearing old clobber from the wartime period, remember, and the boots and the ball were both far heavier than today. I said to Pele: "You'd better look after me on that field, because you all have dialogue to say in the camp. If you don't look after me during the football scenes I won't look after you in the acting!" It worked a treat. I think they were all very good with the dialogue. 'They were overawed by Sly and myself for about ten minutes, but there's no filmstar nonsense about either of us, and we are very easy to work with. We both became "one of the lads". Once I'd said to them: "Come on, don't worry about it, Just fucking say the lines," everything went as smooth as clockwork.' (Available in Book shops £16.99)