Sir Michael Caine is retiring from acting.
The 90-year-old actor confirmed his retirement following the release of his last and final film on October 6. Big Smuggler – in a new radio interview on Saturday.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Caine said: “I keep saying I’m going to retire. I’m retired now.”
“I thought I had a movie starring me and it was getting incredible reviews. The only roles I’ll probably get right now will be old men,” the acting legend explained. “…And I thought, well I better leave with all this – what do I need to do to get over this?
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Representatives for Caine did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for further comment.
Caine’s retirement announcement comes after he hinted in an interview that he would retire. Telegram discussed his new role last month Big Smuggler, years old and said he is “sort of” retired. In his final role in the film, the actor plays Bernard Jordan, a World War II veteran who escapes from his nursing home to attend the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings in France.
In his recent interview on BBC Radio 4, Caine stated that he believes it is important for old age to be portrayed in films, and that this is one reason why he continues to act until now.
“For me, it’s not as dire as you might think,” he said. “I remember when I was young talking to old men who were 90 years old and they didn’t look anything like me. “They were little old men with hunched shoulders… And I thought, that’s not who I am, and that’s changed.”
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Elsewhere in the interview, the two-time Academy Award winner discussed his first thriller and talked about his focus on writing now that he’s retired from movies. Deadly GameIt is planned to be released in November.
“I got COVID and I sat there and I had nothing to do, I couldn’t make any movies, I couldn’t do anything,” Caine recalled as he began the book. “I always wanted to be a writer and wrote a few ‘Biographies’… Then I wrote a fiction book…I was quite surprised (it was published).”
When asked if he would return to acting, Caine replied: “No. It’ll be writing. I’ll write another book at some point because I loved writing so much.”
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“The thing about filmmaking is you have to get up at 6:30 in the morning, learn your lines in the fucking car, and then go out there and work until 10 at night,” the actor explained. “You don’t have to get out of bed when you write; All you need is pen and paper and you can start!”
Caine added that he is “very happy” with his life with his wife, Shakira, 76, and his grandchildren, whom he “adores”.
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Caine hinted at imminent retirement in 2021 after his film’s release Best sellers. “I have a spine problem that affects my legs. That’s why I can’t walk very well,” he told the BBC Radio programme. Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review In that case. “I guess it will be [my last role]”
“Honestly, I haven’t had any offers in two years because no one is making the movies I want to make,” Caine added. “But at the same time, scripts aren’t exactly emerging about the 88-year-old leading lady.”
In September, Caine hit the red carpet at the premiere. Big Smuggler He posed for photos with the cast and director Oliver Parker at the BFI Southbank in London.