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Volume 404
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Friday, December 14, 2012
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Page 1 of 2
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This is from herocomplex.latimes.com
Michael Caine distinctly remembers the morning Christopher Nolan turned up at his English country home with a screenplay for the two-time Oscar-winning actor to read.
"My instant thought was, I’m going to be in one of these wonderful little dramas, murder thrillers. I'd love that," Caine recalled during an interview late last week.
The screenplay, of course, wasn't for a film like Nolan's time-bending indie "Memento" or his crime drama "Insomnia." It was for 2005's "Batman Begins," which ultimately would
include some of the same hallmarks as those moody, evocative thrillers.
"I thought to myself, I'm a bit old for Batman," Caine said. "So, I said, 'Who am I going to play?' He said, 'The butler.' I immediately thought I'll be spending the entire series
saying, 'Dinner is served' and ‘Would you like a coffee?' I thought, well, I'll read it and turn it down.
"I said, 'OK, I'll call you tomorrow and let you know whether I want to do it or not,'" he continued. "And this is where I first found out Chris is the most secretive director
you've ever come across. It's like working for MI6."
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Nolan asked Caine to read the script right away, and the actor obliged while his wife shared a cup of tea with their unexpected guest. And Caine soon discovered that in Nolan's
universe, Alfred Pennyworth, the confidant of the DC Comics caped vigilante, was much more than hired help.
"I thought it was wonderful," Caine said of the role. "He was the foster father of young Bruce Wayne whose parents got killed and started to bring him up. I thought this is a great
director. He's never made a big-budget movie like this and [Warner Bros. has] given him a shot. I thought, I'm going to go with him and I'll see how we get on."
The answer, it turned out, was quite well. These years later, Caine, who still more often refers to Alfred by his job rather than his first name, considers himself Nolan's "biggest
fan," comparing the filmmaker to David Lean and praising his ability not just to direct but also to write screenplays and create complex, nuanced characters so often absent from
big-budget studio fare.
Caine, of course, is hardly alone in that opinion. When "The Dark Knight Rises" was released in July, critics hailed the final installment in the Gotham City triptych, which sees
Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne compelled to don the cowl to battle a masked menace named Bane after years in
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