Michael Caine
Michael Caine has trashed his old friend Sean Connery, insisting the former 007 only retired from acting because he was too stubborn to play smaller roles.
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."
In recent years Caine has enjoyed an influx of work and delivered some great performances, Is Anybody There? and Harry Brown being particularly memorable.
He reunites with filmmker Christopher Nolan this summer as he stars alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. Joseph Gordon Levitt and Ellen Page in Inception.
It's the fourth film for the pair after The Prestige, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
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