Alfred Hitchcock’s domineering and occasionally troubling behavior toward his female leads has been extensively documented. He showed no mercy to male stars either, particularly when he believed they had somehow betrayed or defied him.
For years, the filmmaker and Michael Caine dined at the same renowned Hollywood restaurant every Friday evening, yet the celebrated director refused to even recognize the actor’s existence. The feud began over one of Hitchcock’s movies, which became his sole film to receive an ‘X’ classification in the UK – and which Caine condemned on ethical grounds.
Helen Mirren and Vanessa Redgrave also rejected roles in the production, while Eileen Atkins denounced the screenplay as “disgusting.”
The director’s own daughter wouldn’t allow her children to view it – but it was Caine whom Hitch refused to pardon.
In 1972, Caine was basking in the success of 1971’s Get Carter and had achieved international stardom through Alfie, The Ipcress File, and The Italian Job. Hitchcock sought him for his newest project, Frenzy, reports the Express.
This would mark his first movie filmed entirely in his homeland of England since 1950’s Stage Fright, and the director was adamant about casting Caine as the lead character, Robert Rusk.
The picture would eventually become a massive commercial success, but the actor was appalled by the part. The movie represented the most graphically violent and sexual work of Hitchcock’s entire career.
He had never incorporated nude sequences previously – this featured four – and it boldly explored themes that films like Psycho had only hinted at. The Alfie star rejected the Hollywood legend outright.
He was never forgiven. While Mirren later confessed she regretted declining the role of Babs Milligan, Caine revealed why he would never have accepted.
Caine said: “He offered me the part of a sadist who murdered women and I won’t play that. I have a sort of moral thing and I refused to play it and he never spoke to me again. It was a film based on a real killer who cut women to smithereens. I said, ‘I can’t play this. I don’t want to play it.'”.
“I would see him every Friday at Chasen’s restaurant (in Los Angeles) and he would totally ignore me.”
Caine has revealed he had always hoped to collaborate with Hitchcock, but their dispute ended that possibility and the director would only create one more film, 1976’s Family Plot.
Ironically, several years afterward, Caine himself proceeded to star in movies like Dressed To Kill, which explore similarly violent themes of serial killers and disturbed sexuality, and the 1981 Oliver Stone horror The Hand.
Frenzy was adapted from the novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square, which drew inspiration from the real-life unsolved crimes of the serial killer Jack the Ripper, who terrorized London in the 1880s. The part of a serial rapist and killer that was pitched to Caine ultimately went to Barry Foster.
Although production faced challenges with Hitchcock injuring his back and his spouse experiencing a stroke, the film now receives high praise from reviewers and proved to be a massive success with audiences.
Despite the sinister subject matter, Hitchcock had pledged “It will be done comedically” and the bold blend of subtle wit and harsh content drove the movie to earn over $12million at the box office against a $2million budget.
Years afterward, Michael Caine and his wife Shakira still showed up to the Seventh Annual American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Awards celebrating Hitchcock on March 7, 1979 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Whether the two men had any conversation remains unknown.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
