Summary
Michael Caineis a well respected actor who has earned the right to make certain demands, but he broke one of his own rules on the set ofDeathtrap. Caine is a staple in Hollywood who has been appearing in hit films since 1946, when he was just 13 years old. Since then, Caine grew to become a star who was successful on both sides of the Atlantic, with over 170 credits to his name. As a long standing celebrity, whose mere name is able to draw an audience, Caine is granted the opportunity to put certain conditions in place before accepting new work.
However, in his autobiography, “What’s it All About?,” Caine has recounted a story where he broke one such condition on his own terms. Despite having the star power necessary to request edits on the 1982 movie,Deathtrap, Caine was happy to go along withscenes that were outside his comfort zone. And of course, it didn’t hurt that his co-star, Christopher Reeve, was theactor who played Supermanin the late 1970s and 1980s.
The Two Pieces Of Career Advice John Wayne Gave Michael Caine
Michael Caine’s autobiography revealed a surprising encounter between the actor and John Wayne, who offered two pieces of career advice.
Michael Caine Broke His Rule To Kiss Christopher Reeve In A 40-Year-Old Comedy
Michael Caine Couldn’t Pass Up The Chance To Kiss Superman
According to Michael Caine’s autobiography, he highlighted that he had a strict rule which he had put in place long before he had even made a name for himself as an actor. He would not kiss a man. As a British man with views and values that stemmed from his environment and the period where he grew up, it’s not an entirely unbelievable rule to have in place. However,Caine reveals that he gladly broke the rulewhen the right man came along, Superman.
I had three good excuses: I was kissing Superman (the other part was played by Christopher Reeve); his breath only smelt of the bottle of brandy we had drunk between us before we did the scene - and I got paid a million bucks to do it. My sense of values, as you can see, did not alter much over the years.
Caine’s willingness to kiss his costar was actually an extremely progressive moment in the film, considering the movie was released in 1982. Reeve even shared in an interview that the kiss potentially cost the film $10 million due to thebacklash and negativity that was directed at the movie for including two men sharing an intimate moment. With this consideration in mind, and Caine’s own eagerness to kiss Superman, it’s a somewhat funny story that paystribute to the late and great Reeve.
Why Michael Caine Has A Specific No Kissing Rule In His Whole Career
It All Goes Back To A Terrible Memory
Caine did have a reason behind why he set the rule firmly in place for his career. While there was a significant stigma around men kissing other men in films that was prominent during the 1980s, that same attitude was not nearly as prevalent in theater. For many years, going back to Shakespearean plays, often men were the only ones employed to act in the theater. For this reason,romances between male and female characters were played exclusively by men. This continued for many years, and when necessity called for a kiss in a play, boys would play both parts.
For Caine, attending schools as a child in the 1930s and 1940s, his school plays continued this tradition. While Caine wanted to perform, he recounts a less than ideal experience where he was cast opposite another boy with whom he was supposed to share a kiss, but the boy was rather ugly and had bad breath. As a result of this traumaticexperience for youngMichael Caine, he opted to put his rule in place and avoid any future issues, untilDeathtrappresented a chance he couldn’t turn down.
My second attempt at show business was at Wilson’s Grammar School where I went to the first play rehearsal without reading through my part and found out that I had to kiss a small boy who was playing my wife - a necessity in an all-boys' school and one of the reasons why I am against them. I couldn’t do this love scene; apart from the fact that Jenkins was not a girl he was also very ugly - even for a boy - and he had bad breath. I retired from the play.
After this I promised myself I would never do anything where I had to kiss a male. I only broke this vow once, when I did Deathtrap many years later.
