SIR Michael Caine talks about why he agreed to voice the character of Finn McMissile in Cars 2 and why it reminded him of past performances.

He also reflects on his own first car, passing his driving test in Los Angeles for the first time and why remakes can sometimes be a good idea – even of his own movies!

Q. You’re in a happy position where you can pick and choose what you want to do, so what appealed to you about Cars 2?
Michael Caine: Well, in quite old age I suddenly had three grandchildren and I thought they’re never going to see me in any movies for years. You can’t go and see Harry Brown until you’re 18. So, I wanted to do something. Quite out of the blue, I was called and they said Cars 2… I’d never seen any cartoons, when you get to my age you don’t see any cartoons. Now I spend my life watching cartoons with my grandchildren because the biggest TV is in my office and they all come in there, they won’t watch cartoons anywhere else.

So, I was interested and then they told me what it was, it was Cars 2, and I ran Cars 1, and I was absolutely stunned because I was thinking of a cartoon and for me a cartoon was Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and Bambi and Snow White. I knew the men drew it and then they drew the next bit and the next bit. But the word ‘cartoon’ didn’t seem to apply to this movie and I can’t think of any word which does. The Disney people told me it was an animated feature which didn’t sound quite right either because it’s better than that sounds. So, out there there’s a special word for what it is. I saw Cars 1 and I was absolutely astonished by what they’d done in there and I couldn’t figure it out. I’m quite up on computers, I’m not one of those old dodderers, I know all about them. But when John just explained about the four companies of early Pixar, I suddenly went all hazy. I had no idea what he was talking about. So I have no idea how they do what they do, but the picture I saw yesterday was much more advanced than Cars 1. I sat there in absolute astonishment, and it was also in 3D. I’d never seen a 3D film before. So, there was that. But there were other things that also made me want to do the movie.

OK, so there was the grand-children… but then I said: “Well, what am I going to be?” They said ‘a spy’. So, I thought: “I started out as a spy in Harry Palmer and The Ipcress File early in my career.” Then I thought: “And the story’s all about cars? I did The Italian Job.” Actors are very superstitious. So, I thought that’s a good omen. Then I said: “What’s my name in it?” And John said: “Finn McMissile.” That’s a great name… you know there’s going to be trouble. Someone’s going to get hit. Then I thought, wait a minute, what sort of a car am I? So, he said: “A 1966, pale blue Aston Martin.” I thought, that’s the coolest car I’ve ever heard of. I didn’t read the script, I just said I’ll do it. So, I did it, I saw it yesterday and I’m so glad I did.

Q. What’s it like to hear your voice coming out of a character who looks unlike you, and what did your grandchildren think?
Michael Caine: My grandchildren actually have the car and if you press the bonnet it talks. My grandchildren call me ‘pa’, not grandpa, and this is known as ‘pa’s car’. They recognise my voice. They’re under two and three. For me, what happens in the movie happens when you’re acting it. You watch the movie and think we’re going to see a lot of cars talking and you think ‘oh really?’ But you gradually go in and it’s just like watching people.

So, when you’re acting it, you talk like a human being, and it’s exactly the same as playing a flesh and blood character, you do nothing different except you never get to meet anybody. He [John Lasseter] is on the computer at the other end telling you what to do on the television. So, what happens is you do it for a couple of hours every three months. I remember John saying to me: “You’re done today, you’re finished.” So, I said: “How long have I been doing this?” And he said: “Two and a half years.” I said: “Really?” I had no idea how long I’d been doing it. But what you need is Lasseter, because he can tell you exactly what he wants… otherwise you’re going to screw it up.

Q. Cars 2 takes your tally to more than 100 films now. Do you feel like you’re getting your second wind?
Michael Caine: I’m on about my 50th wind! I’ve been asked if I’d ever retire. But if you’re in the movies you don’t retire – the movies retire you. If you have no luck, it could be on your first movie [laughs]. But I’ve been very fortunate and I’ve eventually got into a position where you are no longer a romantic leading man, obviously, but I started out as a repertory actor playing different parts and my mentality is still that of a repertory actor… and a critic. I’m my own worst critic, so I keep looking for new parts that will force me further and further to be better and better. I’d never done a proper animated film and this was again something… also I’d never done a film in 3D.

So, I’ll just keep going until no offers come in. The great thing about being an actor is you don’t ever have to retire because someone’s got a movie with a 90-year-old bloke in it and you’ll get a job. You don’t have to retire at 65. I saw a story in the paper the other day, people saying: “We’ve got to work till we’re 66!” I’m thinking, I’m 78, what are they talking about? The great thing about this movie I figure I’m about 34 and quite good looking, with very heavy eyelids which I do have in real life.

Q. Why do Brits make such good spies?
Michael Caine: If you have a look, we are the best spies… read the papers [laughs]! We sort of invented that thing years ago. We were always a war-like nation and needed information. The secret service was invented at the beginning of the Second World War. And we were always very good at it. I don’t know why. I think being an island people we were very insular so we wanted to find out everything, everywhere, and we did.

Q. What is your favourite car? And what was the first car you ever drove?
Michael Caine: I grew up in a non-car period, the Second World War, and there weren’t a lot of cars about. And I also grew up in a city, London, which had an incredible public transport system so I never knew a person who owned a car till I was about 25. The first car I ever bought was a Rolls Royce. But I couldn’t drive it. So, I said I was going to learn to drive with my Rolls Royce and the insurance company said: “No you’re not!” The premium was so high it was cheaper to hire a chauffeur.

So, I hired a chauffeur and I didn’t drive again until I went to live in Los Angeles. You have to drive there. I took a test in Los Angeles. It was very weird. Before I took the test the man said to me: “The guy who will be doing the test is sitting outside in the car, you will only speak to him to say ‘good morning’. There will be no normal conversation, he will give you instructions, you will listen to him and that is that, there will be no personal remarks whatsoever.” I said: “Yes officer, I’ll do that.” So, I got in the car and the guy looked at me and he went: “I loved you in The Man Who Would Be King. You’re going to have to be shit to not pass this test.” So, at the age of 50 I passed the test.

I wasn’t a very good driver because my mind is always somewhere else thinking. I drove for 20 years until I was 70 and then I gave it up, fortunately for all of you I no longer drive. So, my favourite car would be a Rolls Royce. It’s the only car I’ve ever driven and I don’t even like them. I just thought that was what I was supposed to have when I was young and very flash. In fact, my wife said to me recently: “The first time I ever met you, you turned up in a Rolls Royce convertible, wearing a white suit.” I said: “I wanted to be noticed.” And she said: “You got noticed!”

But my history with cars is not very good. I had a successful film, The Italian Job, and I drove in that but only with stunt drivers so that they could miss me. I drove the cars in a controlled area, but even there I didn’t do the dangerous bits. Rémy Julienne, who led the wonderful stunt team… his wife doubled me because she had short blonde hair. She was a better driver than any of the guys so I came out of it looking very good. A little bit feminine but a very good driver.

Q. With all the reboots of past movies and several James Bonds, do you think Harry Palmer could be re-booted? And who would you like to see play him?
Michael Caine: I love new younger actors taking on the physical roles. I like to stand about and give orders… that’s all I do. I’m Alfred the butler in Batman. I just serve dinner, I don’t do any flying up the sides of buildings. I’ve never thought of it [reboots]. There was one novel that Len Deighton did that we didn’t film. It had a great title, it was set in Paris, and it was called An Expensive Place to Die. I would buy that novel and make that first then go backwards, Billion Dollar Brain, Funeral in Berlin and Ipcress File.

They should just remake crap films. I did one, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which was a real crap film [originally] which starred Marlon Brando and David Niven [Bedtime Story]. It was a disaster. We re-made it and it was Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and that got great reviews. My first movie in America when Shirley MacLaine took me there was Gambit. And it’s very interesting who is remaking that – the Coen brothers with Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz. Now that could be a very good, superior remake with that pedigree, in my opinion.

Read our review of Cars 2

Read our interview with producer Denise Ream

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