The book publishes on Oct. 23 and isavailable for pre-order.
If all else fails, change direction.
At a point in my career when the movie scripts stopped coming, I went back to TV.
Credit: Casey Curry/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Unlike today, with the power of Netflix and Amazon, that was seen as a sign of failure.
For me, though, the failure would have been not working at all.
Not a bad way to fail.
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At another point, the scripts not only dried up, they started looking hurtfully different.
I told myself and others that I had retired and that I was happy.
Im usually a hard worker and here was an incredible chance to be lazy.
Why not simply reinvent myself as a movie actor, as opposed to a movie star?
A character actor, rather than a leading actor?
(Whats the difference?
Well, essentially its this.
When movie stars get a script they want to do, they change it to suit them.
Especially with such a great, fun-loving co-star as Jack.
Jack is a tremendous actor who, even more than I do, relishes the relaxation.
I broke into a light jog to get back to the set.
Dont run, Michael, Jack said to my back laconically.
Theyll know its us whos late.
I fell back in line and on we strolled.
That was in 1996.
I followed up withMidnight in Saint Petersburg, another Harry Palmer movie, another flop for me.
I was off and running again.
I may no longer get the girl, but Im still getting the parts.
Even since my retirement Ive made plenty of flops, often with stunning casts and terrific directors.
You just never know how these things will go.
But I didnt sit around waiting for the great director to give me the perfect script.
Over and over I repeated the pattern.
Thank you, Brian De Palma, for saving my knicker-covered butt.
Hello, Michael, he said, waving script in my face.
Sorry to disturb you on a Sunday but Id like you to read this.
Oh, hello, I said.
We had never met, but I knew the name.
I had seenMemento, a fascinating film that Chris had made a few years previously, and loved it.
It was the only movie I had ever seen that started at the end and finished at the beginning.
This was not going to be a small arty intellectual piece.
Chris was making a series of huge Hollywood blockbusters: a trilogy of Batman movies.
Who do you want me to play in it?
The butler, said Chris.
I hid my disappointment and smiled.
What do I say?
Hes not that kind of butler, he said.
Batman is an orphan and the butler is a father to him.
Its a very important role.
OK. Well, leave me the script and Ill read it and send it back to you tomorrow.
No, said Chris, in what I would come to recognise as his hallmark quiet-but-authoritative manner.
I want you to read it now.
Ill wait until youre done and you’re able to tell me yes or no.
Oh, OK, I said.
Obediently I went to my office and read it.
When I came back, Chris and Shakira were sitting and chatting over more coffee.
I said yes, it was handshakes all round and Chris left, taking the script with him.
Thank goodness Id kept going.
Thank goodness Id trained myself to say yes.
Excerpted from Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life by Michael Caine.
Copyright October 23, 2018.
Available from Hachette Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
