Michael Caine takes matters into his own hands

Michael Caine at the "Harry Brown" press junket in Toronto

Today’s movie stars can learn some important lessons from Sir Michael Caine in how to have an acting career that spans about 50 years (and counting) while still doing an admirable range of roles with exceptional talent. The Oscar-winning British actor is also a delight to interview, and he hasn’t let fame ruin his sense of humor or his ability to relate to "regular people."

And forget about Caine doing roles in which he’s a faded old man who’s a shadow of his former self because of diminishing health. Caine is as vibrant on screen and he is off screen. And in his title role in the movie drama "Harry Brown," he plays a straight-up action hero of sorts: a man who takes the law into his own hands in his crime-ridden neighborhood after he becomes a crime victim himself.

"Harry Brown" had its world premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, where Caine sat down for this candid interview at the "Harry Brown" press junket in Toronto. He shared his thoughts on what it was like growing up in the area where "Harry Brown" was filmed, what he thinks should be done about England’s crime problem, and what he loves about the Internet.

Michael Caine in "Harry Brown"

"Harry Brown" takes place in low-income area …

I grew up where that [movie] was shot. I grew up in a pre-fabricated house … The house came from Canada. They used to send them over in a kit and put them up. They were made of asbestos. Fortunately for me, not black asbestos. I grew up there in that estate [British term for housing project] that you see in the movie. There is a plaque on the wall to me having coming from there. Me and Charlie Chaplin …

What’s on the plaque?

It’s got me it’s got Charlie in "The Kid," when he’s walking away from the camera at the end. And it’s got me as Jack Carter [from Caine’s 1971 movie "Get Carter"] in the poster … And then quite astonishingly, below it — I never noticed it at first — there’s a photograph of my mother and she’s giving me a cup of tea in my house. They shot my background like where I came from. And in the painting, there’s a shot of my mother giving me a cup of tea. I looked at the painting for quite some time. Somebody said, "What’s that"? And it was quite dark. He said, "It’s you getting a cup of tea from your mother." It was quite weird.

Michael Caine in "Harry Brown"

What were your not-so-fond memories of growing up in that neighborhood?

It was always a gang thing, like now. You never had the guns and drugs when I was a kid. There were no drugs. It was alcohol, which mean you’d get pissed, have a fight, get a black eye and go home. And that was the end of that. You couldn’t have a drink and get hooked and destroyed in 25 days, like you can with crack.

When I started with the ["Harry Brown"] script, I had a typical — what I am now, middle-class — reaction: "Get all these bastards and stick them in the prison." Then I went down — and I shot a lot at night there — and I would make a point with all the guys in hoodies and talk to them. And I changed my mind [about] them. Seventy-five percent of them are educatable and want to be educated, and they’re controlled by the 25 percent who are irredeemable and should be in a psychiatric ward somewhere. It’s such a sad thing.

I remember watching with Daniel [Barber, the director of "Harry Brown"], when he was directing the riot scenes in the beginning, and he had all these young boys — they were the real boys from the estate. And what you had, psychologically, was an incredible thing that was missing in their lives: an alpha male. And that was the director, who knew things you didn’t know, you could be a movie actor for a day, and he’d tell you how to do it. And these boys concentrated, and they were better than real actors. He’d do one take and tell you how to do it again, and they remembered everything. And they got everything correct because of the concentration. And I watched them look at Daniel — because they never had a father, most of these guys.

Richard Gilgun and Michael Caine in "Harry Brown"

How was your interaction with these guys? Were they star-struck?

I was with those guys who’d scare the life out of you. I was just on my own and just talking to them. Some of them were black, and you’d have these young black men talking to this old white man in a complete equal state. You could ask them anything. No religions, nothing.

The first question they always said to me was, "How did you get out?" I said, "Well, I had two things you didn’t: I had a happy family life and a good education for a working-class boy in England at that time." It wasn’t Eton or Oxford or Cambridge, but a scholarship and a grammar school, which meant I read a play and I read a book and I joined the amateur dramatic society. And I didn’t have things you do: guns and drugs. And that’s what’s destroyed this whole thing.

Michael Caine at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

My attitude going in was completely against them. And now my attitude is like, "Is there something in this movie showing in England where it would raise the government in a situation where you could try to redeem that 75 percent, because they’re redeemable, and make them a plus?" Because in our country, there are over 350,000 people on [government-assistance] benefits who are purely crack and heroin addicts. Not marijuana. Crack and heroin.

The problem with the picture ["Harry Brown"] is it’s there as a warning. And we hope the right people see it and not go, "Oh, this is just a specific situation in the movie that they invented." This is a real situation that is everywhere in England, everyone is ignoring it, and it’s getting worse. That’s what’s terrifying about it.

And you go down — a pompous guy like me [who thought], "Lock them up" — and 75 percent of them are redeemable. They can make a positive contribution to the society. And there are two actors in the film who prove it, who were drug addicts and who were rehabbed. And when they were asked what they wanted to do, they said they wanted to be actors, and they were sent to a drama school. And they’re in our movie as actors. The only problem is they’re playing junkies. [He laughs.] At least they know how to play ‘em!

Michael Caine in "Harry Brown"

Did the experience of making "Harry Brown" make you want to be more politically active?

I hate to say that, because they’ll make me do it, but it does. It’s such a shame. And it’s scary, because the wider [the problem] gets, the more people are going to get hurt by it. It’s really scary, because they don’t seem to do anything. The police are under-budget. They can’t be everywhere.

What’s your view on Harry Brown’s vigilantism?

He’s not a real vigilante. A couple of people have said to me, "It’s like Charlie Bronson in ‘Death Wish.’" No. Charlie Bronson in "Death Wish" is a perpetrator. Harry’s not a perpetrator; he’s a victim. And he’s forced into it. He never takes any pleasure in it. He’s an old man who didn’t want to do it. Not like Charlie [playing Paul Kearsey in "Death Wish"]. He was like a movie star, banging away at people and really enjoying it. I [as Harry Brown] never got any enjoyment in anything I ever did — even when I shot the guy lying in the marijuana [greenhouse]. It was very quiet, very matter of fact.

Michael Caine in "Harry Brown"

Growing up in a crime-ridden neighborhood, did you ever feel any peer pressure to do anything that was against the law?

No. I would never go against the law. I’m very stodgy. I’ve also turned into a real conservative, disgusted of Tunbridge Wells [a low-crime district in Kent, England], because what I think is what you actually need to do is bring back national service — not for two years like I did, and not to go to war (I went to the Korean War) — just six months to learn to defend your country. You don’t kill anybody … You just learn to defend your country in case someone comes to kill you …

If a force will come and you are part of the force that will defend your country. Like in 1939 with Hitler: All these guys waiting with pole rifles from the first World War. I think this is very important that [he United Kingdom] get the sense of being citizens and belonging.

Michael Caine at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Was there anything about "Harry Brown" that reminded you of your earlier work, such as "Get Carter"?

"Get Carter" was gangster. He was the other guys. Harry Brown is an innocent man who just happened to be trained as a killer because he was a soldier, but he wasn’t a gangster by nature. He was completely different. He [Harry Brown] wasn’t the perpetrator; he was the victim.

How did you handle such a physically demanding role?

I’m quite fit, because I’m a gardener and all that. I walk a lot. I walk long hours.

Michael Caine and "Harry Brown" producer Kris Thykier at a GQ dinner party in London celebrating the United Kingdom release of "Harry Brown"

What kind of gardening do you do?

My garden is very big. It has everything. My wife loves flowers, so there’s enough room for flowers for the entire year … I grow every vegetable, every salad. And the reason why I do it is because it’s organic. Everything is organic. And, of course, it’s fresh. If you look at a cookbook on how to cook sweet corn, they say, "Get the kettle boiling first, then go pick [the corn] and get it into the pot as quickly as you can."

So you grow organic food. You don’t ever go to the supermarket?

In the winter we have to. We do eat organic food. They just did that [study] where organic food is no better for you than anything else, which I think is a load of rubbish. I don’t know how much they get paid to do that. There are chemicals in the [non-organic] food.

Michael Caine at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

What was it like growing up with food rationing in England during and after World War II?

We didn’t worry about organic, because everything was organic. All those fertilizers and chemicals went into and explosives. I was very fortunate. I grew up with organic food, because there was no fertilizer to put on the land. And also I grew up unable to eat candy, cake, biscuits — no sugar. I still can’t eat sugar. There wasn’t any. You had a quarter of an ounce of candy a week for each child. And there wasn’t a massive [amount of] fruit, either. For Christmas, every child got an orange and a banana. That was a big treat. You couldn’t get candy, biscuits. There were no soft drinks, fizzy drinks with sugar in it. So I grew up on a very organic diet without thinking. Actually, World War II was very good for me.

Michael Caine, "Harry Brown" director Daniel Barber, "Harry Brown" producer Kris Thykier and Redbus Film Distribution co-founder Zygi Kamasa at a GQ dinner party in London celebrating the United Kingdom release of "Harry Brown"

"Harry Brown" is Daniel Barber’s first feature film as a director. Did you have any hesitation to work with a first-time feature director?

No. I saw "The Tonto Woman" [Barber’s 2007 Oscar-nominated short film], and I thought it was fabulous. It was a Western. And when I read the ["Harry Brown"] script, I realized that Daniel was going to make a Western out of this. I sort of see it as "High Noon" with Gary Cooper: Get the villains.

And he [Daniel Barber] has something which older directors don’t have: He’s done a lot of commercials, and he has these incredible tricks. He understands technology that older directors don’t understand. Like me, I get Google on a computer, and that’s about it … And he used those things to cleverly. And he also used, for some of the music, Pete Tong, who’s a disc jockey, who writes his own songs. And the end song — you know the guy I shot at the end of the [‘Harry Brown"] movie — he wrote that end song. It’s a great song. And that’s another great example: He should’ve been what he plays [a criminal], but he’s not. He’s a musician. He writes songs, he writes poetry. He’s an artist.

Michael Caine at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Speaking of Google, do you ever Google yourself?

I Googled myself once, and it was seven-and-a-half million pages. I thought, "I don’t want to read that!" [He laughs.] I have my own [Web] site. I write it. It’s www.michaelcaine.com. I have a guy who does it and he knows about that stuff. I tell him that I’m in Toronto, and it magically appears on the screen.

So you’re marketing yourself …

All the time. It’s a brave new world. I never thought I’d be doing this. But I’m one of those people: I’m an information fruit. I love information. So Google was made for me. I spend hours of a day on Google. If you want to know anything, I know everything! I have a friend — Leslie Bricusse, the composer — and between him and me, we do know everything. So anything I don’t know, he would know.

Michael Caine at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

What’s next for you?

I don’t know. I have a script called "Cold War Requiem." Many years ago, before you were born, I played a spy called Harry Palmer in [the 1965 film] "The Ipcress File" and the [1966] sequel "Funeral in Berlin" — very successful. I played this spy in the Cold War against the Russians and Germany. In "Cold War Requiem," it’s not Harry Palmer, but let’s say Harry [Palmer’s] retired, he’s living in London in a middle-class area, and the guys that he’s screwed have gotten rich and have decided to come and kill him. The Russian oligarchs and the German billionaire. And they say, "Let’s go and kill Charlie." And I would like to get it done, but we haven’t gotten it financed yet.

I’ve got one day on "Inception," Christopher Nolan’s film [due out in 2010]. We didn’t have a part for me, so we just did one day … I’m the father of the girl.

Have you seen your "Sleuth" co-star Jude Law do "Hamlet" on stage?

I’ve seen Jude Law in "Hamlet." He’s the best Hamlet I’ve ever seen in m life! I’ve seen [Laurence] Olivier, I’ve seen [Richard] Burton, I’ve seen David Warner. He [Jude Law] stunned me. When he told me he was going to do "Hamlet," I thought he was going to get slaughtered. And then he got these great reviews.

Michael Caine and Jude Law in 2007's "Sleuth"

What do you think makes Jude Law the best Hamlet?

He’s the truest, and you understand. If you think it’s a young man who screwed up — just like any young man — he’s got a mother who’s off her rocker, he’s got a girlfriend who’s off her rocker, a mother who’s being unfaithful and all this. And he gets it perfectly. He gets it absolutely right.

Richard Burton did it so quickly. I saw him at the Old Vic. I grew up near the Old Vic. And years later, I became friends with Richard Burton and said, "You did the fastest bloody Hamlet I’ve ever seen in my life!" And he said, "Well, in those days, the pubs shut [down] past 8 [o’clock]!" He got his priorities right.

Photo credits: Photo #1: Carla Hay. Photos #2, 3, 4, 6, 7: Lionsgate International. Photos #5, 8, 9, 10, 12: Getty Images. Photo #11: AP. Photos #13: Sony Pictures Classics.