CAINE UNABLE

‘My film double is a decrepit old man these days’

SIR Michael Caine admits he knew he was getting too old for movie roles when his on-set stand-ins became “decrepit old men”.

The Cockney legend has starred in 125 films during a career spanning five decades.

But today the Italian Job star says he feels so old he does not like filming when it is too cold – or if his hotel is not near the shoot.

And the Dark Knight star was shocked when he realised he was as old as his understudies – who sometimes need help getting out of their chairs.

The 85-year-old actor said in his new book Blowing The Bloody Doors Off: “When I first started working, my stand-in was a greatlooking young guy and we became good friends.

Fussy

“Now I see a poor decrepit old man being helped out of his seat and almost carried to the camera position and with a jolt I realise that’s my stand-in. That’s me.”

Sir Michael said he has started turning down movie roles because of his age.

And for the first time he is rejecting big money roles as he does not want to make “any old rubbish.”

He added: “I’ve become so fussy that I’ve just done something I’ve never done before in my life and turned down four movies.

“These days, if I pick up a script and it says: ‘Siberia, deepest winter. Our hero trudges through a featureless wasteland...’, I put it straight back down again.”

SIR Michael Caine reckons he’s too decrepit for Hollywood. He’ll be known as Sir Michael Walking Stick soon.