Caine: ‘Stubborn Sean refused to play old men’

Caine has experienced a rebirth of late after playing a series of supporting roles in films like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and Austin Powers in Gold Member – and he thinks his The Man Who Would Be King co-star should have followed his lead.

Instead, Caine claims, Connery, 79, was too interested in chasing “young man roles”.

The Alfie star says, “The movie business retired Sean Connery because he didn’t want to play small parts about old men and they weren’t offering him any young parts in romantic leads. So he was gone.”