„By All Accounts It Was Terrible.” Michael Caine Is Still Complaining About The Movie That Kept Him from Receiving His Oscar
Michael Caine makes no secret of the fact that he took part in a weak film for financial gain. That doesn't stop him from complaining about the production, which prevented him from picking up an Oscar.
Michael Caine is a great actor and one of the faces of British cinema; in short, he's a real star with many achievements in the industry. What's surprising, then, is his decision to star in the awful Jaws sequel, Jaws: The Revenge, directed by Joseph Sargent.
However, it is worth knowing the context of this decision. The movie star at the time was planning to move with his family from the United States to England, where he was building his home. Unfortunately, the costs turned out to be higher than anticipated, so when he was offered $1.5 million for his participation in this production, the actor didn’t think twice and accepted the offer.
As he confessed during an interview for The Denver Post, the role was small, and entailed financial benefits and allowed him to spend time in the Bahamas, so he couldn’t complain about the conditions offered to him. For the movie itself, on the other hand, as Caine told, he isn’t responsible, since he didn’t play the lead role there and wasn’t involved in any other significant way in the project, so he doesn’t take the blame for the failure.
It was only a 10-minute role. It was only 10 days’ work. In Nassau. In the Bahamas. And they were going to pay me a million bucks for 10 days, and I said, “Hey, I’ll do that.” I didn’t take any notice of it. I didn’t write it, direct it, photograph it, produce it, didn’t play any of the leading parts, but I get the blame.
But even though Michael Caine doesn’t take responsibility for Jaws 4, aware of how bad the film is, it doesn't sound like he regrets his participation in the project because it helped him finish building his dream house. This, incidentally, led to Caine's now-legendary quote:
I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.
Interestingly, due to his work on Jaws: The Revenge, the actor was unable to attend the 1987 Academy Awards ceremony because he had to shoot a movie at the time. So he didn’t receive his Oscar for his supporting role in the film Hannah and Her Sisters.
