Michael Caine Reveals What Advice Tom Cruise Asked Him for as a Young Actor: He Had 'Something Special'

Mar. 15, 2025

Michael Caine (left); Tom Cruise.Photo:Getty(2)

Getty(2)

Michael Caineis looking back on his earliest encounter withTom Cruise— when the latter was just a “very polite” young actor.

Caine, who writes that he’s known Cruise for “over 40 years,” remembers running into the actor at an event for Caine’s 1983 comedy-dramaEducating Rita. “I turned around and there was this young actor, very polite, asking questions about how not to be just a flash in the pan,” Caine writes. “That was Tom, probably around the time ofRisky Business.”

“I can’t remember what I said, but it obviously didn’t do him any harm,” says Caine in theSunday Timesexcerpt.

From left: Michael Caine, Shakira Caine, Rebecca De Mornay and Tom Cruise attend a screening ofEducating Ritain 1983.Frank Edwards/Archive Photos/Getty

Frank Edwards/Archive Photos/Getty

Caine, who indeed was photographed with his wife Shakira Caine and Cruise at a September 1983 screening of the film, adds in the excerpt that there was “something special” about the then-young star. By September 1983, Cruise had already appeared inRisky Business,The OutsidersandLosin' It— and was just three years before his major role inTop Gun.

Michael and Shakira Caine in London in March 2014.David M. Benett/Getty

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Cruise and Caine appeared inAustin Powers in Goldmembertogether in 2002.

Caine revealed this summer that he’ll be releasing his new non-fiction book on March 25, 2025 in the U.S. and Canada. The title will be a follow-up to his 2018 memoirBlowing the Bloody Doors Off.

“I’ve seen a new generation grow up, among them my own grandchildren, facing the world with all its challenges and problems,” Caine previously told PEOPLE of the book. “I hope they’ll findDon’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over: My Guide to Lifehelps them to be optimistic — and shows that anyone can blow the bloody doors off.”

source: people.com