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Blowing The Bloody Doors Offr



Michael Caine







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Harry: "Clever sod, aren't you?"
Jack: "Only comparably"
(Get Carter 1973)

Reliability is at a premium in every occupation. Time is money, and holding things up bc you haven't planned properly, or haven't worked out what is expected of you, or for any other reason within your control, is a drain on the company's money and on your reputation.

If you can prepare thoroughly, then you'll be more in control. That control will free you up to pay attention to what is going on around you, and react to whatever gets thrown at you.

You'll have a lot more fun if your crew takes pleasure in removing the inevitable road blocks or figuring out ways to dodge around them.

Peter Sellers invented the (anti-)punchline "Not many people know that." MC rang him up one day and got answerphone message mimicking his voice "Dis is Michael Caine speaking Peter Sellers is out. Not many people know that."

"It's a very difficult job and the only way to get through is we all work together as a team. And that means you do everything I say" (The Italian Job 1969)

MC was with David Bowie the day he bought a yacht. Took me on board and we had a drink. Met him a couple of years later and asked him how he was enjoying it. he said "There are two great things about a yacht, Michael. The day you buy it and the day you sell it. And the last one's better than the first."

When people criticize one of the many stinkers he acted in, he says "I've never seen the movie, but I've seen the house it apid for, and it's fabulous."

When started opening restaurants, went into business with Marco Pierre White, a talented Michelin starred chef. Had an unexpected cost - needed an extra set of doors between kiychen and restaurant so that patrons wern't exposed to the foul language that was going into their delicious food.

Peter Langan taught MC that the rest was the show - the walls were the set and needed to be beautifully dressed with expensive-looking artwork. The tables shd be well-spaced but the bar shd be right ant the front and crowded, balancing comfort witha sense of excitement and desirability. The customers were both the audience and the stars of the show, so everybody had to be able to see everybody else all the time.

Once lost his temper on set of a Jimmy Clavell film. Clavell waited until he;d finished his tirade and gave me one of the most useful lessons of my life. He said very quietly and calmly, "I was a prisoner of the Japanese during the war, and the reason I survived and others did not is that I never lost face. If you lose your temper in front of people you do not know, you are displaying a most intimate emotion on front of starngers. You look a fool and you feel a fool. You lose their respect and it is almost impossible to win it back. You must keep control. If you cannot control yourself, you look weak, and you will have no choice of controlling others."






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