(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Whilst modern audiences will most recognise the British actor Michael Caine from his collaborations with the beloved filmmaker Christopher Nolan, the truth is that the performer has been gracing the silver screen for decades. First appearing back in the late 1950s, Caine seized early opportunities to work with the likes of Cy Endfield, Guy Hamilton and Mike Hodges on his way to the top.
Ever since that moment, he has been on a somewhat steady climb into icon status. Caine’s position as one of Britain’s finest ever actors is untarnished, but that doesn’t mean his entire filmography is blemish-free.
Indeed, while he was a constant fixture of the big and small screen in the 1950s, it wasn’t until the following decade that he would truly thrive, appearing in the classic war flick Zulu in 1964, Alfie in 1966 and the comedy crime thriller Gambit, from director Ronald Neame. By the end of the ‘60s, there was no doubt that Caine was a bonafide star, but what fans hadn’t seen was his struggle to get to the top of his industry.
Speaking with Rolling Stone back in 2019, Caine looked back on his early career, where he found himself pedalling bit-parts in TV shows and minor movies. Asked what advice he would give to his younger self, he replied: “If you’re going through hell, keep going. I had a very hellish time when I was young. I came out of the army when I was 20 and immediately succumbed to malaria I’d picked up in Korea. I came out the other side, but just you’ve got to keep going”.
Such a hellish time can, of course, leave scars physically and emotionally; however, it also battle-hardened Caine for the brutal career he was undertaking. Continuing, he added: “Also, you can’t ruin my career now by giving me a bad review. I’m all right. I’m OK now. I got to a certain age where I went, ‘OK, it’s all right, mate. Stop worrying’”.
Getting into the industry for any young actor is a notoriously tricky feat, yet Caine found the transition fairly smooth, only to experience regrets later in his career when he was more of an established star. When you have had a career as extensive as Caine’s, there are bound to be a few duds in your filmography. But there is perhaps no movie that stung Caine as sharply as The Swarm.
When asked, later in the interview, which movie he wouldn’t do if he could go back, he quickly responded: “The Swarm. It’s about [killer] bees. I did it without reading the script, because I said, ‘Who’s in it?’ and they gave this me great big star list: Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Jose Ferrer. I said, ‘I’ll do it.’ One day we were all having a conversation with live bees above us, and suddenly we noticed all these little black dots on our shirts. The bees were shitting on us. And so the first review was in, but we didn’t know it at the time”.
Released in 1978, the horror flick was directed by Irwin Allen and told the story of a vast swarm of deadly bees that terrorised American cities, killing thousands of people with their sharp stings on their journey across the country. Check out the trailer for the movie below.
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