Jack O’Connell opened up about the intimidating experience of working with Michael Caine in the early days of his career.
The Sinners actor, 34, is rumoured to have been dubbed a “star of the future” by the Oscar winner after he impressed him on the set of Daniel Barber’s action thriller Harry Brown when he was a teenager.
O’Connell, who found fame as James Cook in the teen drama Skins, admitted filming alongside Caine had been “daunting” but one gruelling scene secured him the huge compliment from the esteemed actor.
Speaking to The Guardian, O’Connell said: “Michael Caine had me tied up to a chair, interrogating me. I had to spit in his face, which was massively daunting.
“I think it was doing that that caused him to come out with that [‘star of the future’]. I’ve not forgotten it,” he added.
“It was totally mind-blowing for a 19-year-old to be working with someone like Michael Caine, a hugely important actor for young, working-class actors.”
O'Connell grew up in Derby. His father was Irish and worked on the railways and his mum worked for the airline British Midland.
He described his comprehensive school as “brutal” and “rough as f***” and, aged 12, he was sent to boxing and army cadets.
However, O’Connell’s drama teacher spotted his potential and encouraged him to audition for the Television Workshop in Nottingham at 13. Two years later, he was cast as Pukey Nicholls in Shane Meadows’ This Is England.
Routinely cast as a delinquent in both screen and stage projects, the actor had his own brush with the law in his youth and was arrested aged 17 for drink driving.
"And that was at the time when I was trying to be an actor at the Royal Court," O'Connell said. “I was in real court the day I was starting a play called Scarborough at the Royal Court in London – waiting to find out if I was getting a custodial sentence.”
O’Connell, who most recently starred in Michael B Jordan’s genre-mashing vampire film Sinners received a suspended sentence and continued to perform in Deborah Bruce’s play, which garnered rave reviews.
O’Connell’s comments arrive after Michael Caine divided fans last month by sharing a petition calling for a new general election.
The synopsis for the petition read: “I would like there to be another General Election. I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.”
“This doesn’t surprise me,” one social media user responded to the actor, who has previously been a vocal Brexit and Boris Johnson supporter.
