‘How the hell did he know about me?’: Michael Caine, Paolo Sorrentino on new film Youth, life, and naked women
Italian director’s beguiling meditation on ageing stars veteran British actor Caine, who was surprised to get the call, as well as Harvey Keitel, and features a cameo from Jane Fonda
Films can spring from the strangest of kernels. In the case of Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth, the idea had been fermenting in the Italian’s mind for several years – ever since he heard a story about his fellow countryman, Riccardo Muti: the conductor turned down a request from Queen Elizabeth II to perform at a private concert in Buckingham Palace.
“They couldn’t agree on the repertoire,” says Sorrentino. “She didn’t change her mind so he said, ‘I won’t come’.”
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It is rather unusual, of course, to turn down one of the most famous women in the world. Over time, this act inspired the central character in Youth: Fred Ballinger. A retired conductor and composer, Ballinger has secreted himself away in a Swiss spa resort when he receives a request, via an emissary from Buckingham Palace, to play his most famous piece, Simple Songs, on the occasion of Prince Philip’s birthday. And like Muti, Ballinger politely declines.
Playing Ballinger is Michael Caine, who admits he was surprised when he heard that Sorrentino wrote the part with him in mind. The British actor had just watched the Italian’s Oscar-winning film The Great Beauty – “I voted for it in the Academy,” he says – when he was sent the script for Youth.
“I thought, ‘How the hell did he know about me?’ I was surprised he’d even heard of me; and even if he’d heard of me, that he was interested at all.”
On the contrary, the Italian was very interested. “I never saw any other actor being able to play the role. I wanted a well-known actor who was also an icon, that had a very specific charisma, and in my view, that was Michael Caine.”
Curiously, Sorrentino hasn’t seen any of Caine’s recent movies. “The last one I saw was The Cider House Rules,” he says, referring to the 1999 film that won Caine a second best supporting actor Oscar. “That’s my approach. I like seeing things from a distance. If you look at things too close, you might be disappointed.”