Michael Caine remembers advice Tom Cruise asked him for 40 years ago
"It obviously didn’t do him any harm!"
Given his long-lasting levels of fame and mega-stardom, it's hard to imagine a time when Tom Cruise needed to ask for advice – but Michael Caine has revealed that the Top Gun and Mission: Impossible star once came to him seeking wisdom on how to achieve longevity in the film industry.
Speaking to The Sunday Times to promote the release of his new memoir Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over, the legendary British actor recalled an occasion more than four decades ago when he met Cruise just as the young star was getting started in the business.
“I turned around and there was this young actor, very polite, asking questions about how not to be just a flash in the pan," he explained. "That was Tom, probably around the time of Risky Business."
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Although Caine can't remember exactly what wise words he imparted, he noted that it "obviously didn’t do him any harm", while also recalling that even in those early days it was clear Cruise was a star.
"There was something special about him," he said. "He had a great attitude, this sense of poise. What interests me is that he is really one of the last true stars in movies. People will go to see a film just because he’s in it. Brad Pitt is a star, Morgan Freeman has some of that quality too. There are so few nowadays — not like John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant."
Caine, 91, is himself an undoubted movie star, having appeared in over 150 films during his long career before announcing his retirement with the release of The Great Escaper in 2023.
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At the time of that release, the film's director Ol Parker told RadioTimes.com, how the experience "revived" Caine "in some ways".
He said: "A lot of older actors through COVID times weren't sure if they'd get back on the stage or on the set. And so, I think that there was an amazing resurgence of energy."
Meanwhile, Cruise continues to be one of the biggest – and most active – film stars on the planet, with the eighth episode in the Mission: Impossible series having recently wrapped production.
Among his major credits are Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia, Minority Report, Edge of Tomorrow and many, many more.
Despite both having legendary careers, Caine and Cruise only have one credit in common, and it's a rather unlikely one – the third Austin Powers film, Goldmember, in 2003. In that film, Caine played Austin's father Nigel Powers while Cruise made a brief cameo as Austin in the film within a film that opens the movie.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
