Michael Caine isn’t just taking down the bad guys in the generation gap revenge thriller Harry Brown. The British seasoned screen star has also been taking heat from his homeland’s press for Harry’s politically incorrect kickbutt approach to straightening out disruptive urban youth. And though stopping by in contrasting initial meek mode, Caine was still ready to rumble when defending his punitive, this-hurts-me-more-than-it-hurts-you criminal cleanup for what ails his nation. The still agile and animated tough guy septuagenarian also held forth on his own coming-of-age old school thug life, something surprising he has in common with Charlie Chaplin and how manure helped him get into fighting form. But whatever you do, don’t even think about comparing his movie to Death Wish.
MICHAEL CAINE: Hello, hello, hello…
Q: Hi there. Do you think you could have been a Harry Brown if you hadn’t ended up respected and wealthy? And, Michael Caine!
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MC: I’m Michael Caine, yes!
Q: So do you think you could have turned out like that guy?
MC: No, I don’t think so. A guy like Harry isn’t ambitious, He was happy just to go down to the pub. But usually when you’re an actor and you get a part, you say, “I’ll research this.” But I knew more about it than the writer!
Q: Is that what led you into this movie?
MC: Yeah, there’s very much of a connection. I came from that background, a gang background anyway. And where they actually shot the movie, was coincidentally the very place that I came from, those blocks of flats. And in the entrance to those apartments, there’s a plaque with me on it! And Charlie Chaplin, who also came from there. But I’m not comparing myself to Charlie Chaplin! We call them estates, and you call them projects in America. All you do is change the accent of the people, and that’s it.
So I knew what it was all about. Or at least I thought I knew! Until I actually went back there. And although I was in a gang, these gangs now make us look like Mary Poppins!
Q: How so?
MC: Because our gangs, we were there for self-protection, really. There were about 12 of us. And we came together to stop getting beaten up! And if we did have any drugs or fights, the drug would be alcohol. And the weapon would be fists.
But when I went back now and saw the drug scene, and the guns and the knives and deaths, I made the movie as a wakeup call. You know, if you want to put a social message on it. But it was a good part, and a good thriller. And the message is there, that if you don’t do something about it, this will happen.
Q: What kind of mural did they put up of you?
MC: It’s me in Get Carter on the phone. I had my picture taken next to it! And a photo of my mother giving me a cup of tea that was taken for a newspaper. And Charlie Chaplin in The Kid. But I said, “Who painted this, I want to buy it.” And they told me, “Nobody knows, they just put it up. So you can’t buy the mural, it’s just going to stay there.” But now they’re pulling those buildings down, and they’re building these luxury flats with the highest penthouse in Europe.
But if you say you’re from Elephant Castle, everybody knows everything about you. Your social class, your financial status. And whether or not to pick a fight with you! It was originally named after the Spanish mistress from Castille, of King Charles II. But the Cockneys couldn’t pronounce her name. So they called her Elephant Castle instead.
Q: You never had second thoughts when you knew about all the violence that would happen in Harry Brown?
MC: No, because this isn’t Death Wish. There aren’t stomachs being cut open and blood coming out. This is about a vigilante who is a victim of the entire system.
Q: Harry Brown was a little too violent for me.
MC: Oh sure, I understand. But I was talking to another American reporter the other day, who was rather accusatory. He said, “Whenever you kill anybody in the movie, people stand up and cheer. Isn’t that a bad thing?” And I said, “No. You’re not dealing with filthy gangsters, you’re dealing with children that you let rot. It’s your fault. You’re society, and you let them rot. In your country, and mine.”
Q: How have Brits reacted to the movie?
MC: We were attacked in the press, socially and politically.
