Sir Michael Caine plays an 'ingeneur' - a man who labors behind the scenes to create new tricks for magicians - in the dramatic thriller, The Prestige, directed by Christopher Nolan. Caine had previously worked with Nolan on Batman Begins and will soon be reuniting with the director for the third time when filming begins in early 2007 on The Dark Knight.
Writer/director Nolan believes Caine's character, Cutter, is the heart and soul of The Prestige. "He has a wonderful warmth and emotion to him that draws you into the story and allows you to have a point of view on these characters without judging them too harshly."
Reuniting with Batman Begins Director Christopher Nolan: “Oh, it's fascinating. I find that Christopher is extraordinarily clever. I mean, if you think of him and his brother, I think that they're both nuts. They get together and they're like, 'I know what we'll do. We'll make a movie from the backwards way, and we'll call it Memento. That's what we'll shoot.' Then what happens? They did Batman. I didn't have a massive part in Batman and so when I'm boasting about it, I'm not talking about myself. I think that it's the best Batman that I've ever seen, and this was just a script that I couldn't refuse.
The biggest magician of the lot is Christopher Nolan who has made the movie. The whole movie is one great big magic trick, which is what's fascinating about it. You get these layers and no one is what they seem. My daughters are going to the premiere in London and they asked me what it was like and I said, 'Well, my advice to you is don't go to the toilet because when you come back you're going to be in trouble because nothing, nothing, is what it seems except me.' He's very clever and has put me in the middle, someone like us amongst all these extraordinary people which is sort of the same type of thing that I did in Batman where every time everything was going on in that movie you're going, 'What the hell?' Alfred said, 'What the hell is going on?' Alfred got all the laughs and there weren't many laughs in Batman. But Alfred got all of the laughs and the sympathies of the people were with him because he is us.
In a way, although he is a very different character, he is us in this. You had these guys then, these engineers who you have to remember that those magicians of that time of Victorian England and Victorian American - Harry Houdini being one of them - they were the rock stars and the movie stars of the day. They were massive, massive stars and these people who run them were like Colonel Parker with Elvis, the guys behind the whole thing. That's what I am. He was never a magician, but he just had the moxie to make them machines.”
Working with Hugh Jackman: Caine plays Jackman’s closest associate/friend/mentor in The Prestige. “He's a knockout,” Caine said of his Prestige cohort. “I had most of my scenes with him. It was very easy for me. I had never met Hugh personally, but I was one of his biggest fans when I saw The Boy From Oz onstage. I thought that he was tremendous, and he's tremendous in this. He's just a really nice man, too, and Christian as well. Christian is great, too. A wonderful guy.”
What is it About Christopher Nolan That Sets Him Apart?: “Well, I once asked John Huston what the art of direction was and he said it was casting. So if you think in terms of Hugh, who I just mentioned that I was a great fan of his theatrical performances which is one of the best that I've ever seen, but he is cast in this as the theatrical performer the whole time. Apart from the fact that he can act the person when he comes off stage, he would be better at that stage presentation than say either Christian or me because he has this extraordinary stage presence. The casting of him in that role is great. If he had cast it the other way around, it wouldn't have been as good. Then there's the casting of me, who's never really been the film ’star’ person. I've always been the person who is sort of like us. People identify with me and talk to me like they know me and not like I was a big film star or something. That’s great - and it's the same as Alfred. He represents us amongst all these brainy people in Batman. I'm representing you amongst all these nuts cases in this film.”
Page 2: Michael Caine on Christian Bale and the Next Batman Movie
