The hordes of screaming, rain-swept fans who’ve lined the red carpet outside the Odeon West End simply love Michael Caine. Jude Law also loves Michael Caine. In fact, he loves him so much he’s starred in two classic Caine reboots within the last three years. The first, Alfie, transported the quintessential British lothario from the clubs of swinging London to the streets of 21st-century New York, with Law slipping into the Caine-shaped shoes of the eponymous leading shag-addict. Now, with Kenneth Branagh and Harold Pinter’s new version of ’70s tête-à-tête thriller Sleuth, the British star is at it all over again. “It’s just wonderful to be able to bring Ken, Harold and Michael together”, explained a chatty Law. “They’re three great men – three great British men and I hope the audience enjoys watching them on screen as much as I did working with them on set.”
As a producer, Law has been tinkering with the Sleuth project for the last three years, and it was only when Branagh signed on to direct that he decided to lend his acting skills to the part of Milo Tindle (played by Caine in the 1972 original). “There are sometimes moments when the bubble bursts and the reality of what you’re doing and who you’re working with creeps in”, he revealed. “Luckily it doesn’t happen very often. But with this movie Michael and I were in such close proximity for the entire shoot…it was really intense and there was a moment when I just thought ‘I can’t do this – he’s a knight of the realm!’” The Laurence Olivier role of quick-witted writer Antony Wyke went to Caine, who only agreed to re-enter the Sleuth arena if the film felt fresh. “There aren’t really any lines taken from the original movie. I would never have remade the Anthony Schaffer script – there would have been no point.” His co-star is in total agreement: “I don’t think he’d [Michael] would have got involved if he felt were just doing a remake. As he put it ‘we did a perfectly good job the first time around’”.
The two men are whisked away as the rain continues to fall the two man are whisked away – Law has a flight to catch back to Canada where he’ll resume filming Repossession Mambo with Forest Whitaker. He’ll be back in the “good hands” of Branagh next year as the pair begin work on a new theatre production of Hamlet, but until then he’ll have to continue to deal with the daily trials and tribulations of being one of the paps’ favourite subjects. “It’s tough for Jude”, says Caine, as the guests take their seats. “It’s 7am, he’s trying to take his kids to school and there’s 20 photographers camped outside his front door. It wasn’t like that in my day. There only ever used to be a few reporters and they were usually drunker than we were!”
Sleuth opens on Friday (November 23)