Michael Caine, who plays Dom’s mind-melding mentor and former father-in-law, has been in eight of Nolan’s movies (counting his voice being heard in Dunkirk and the upcoming Tenet).
Their long and fruitful collaboration started with Batman Begins. “He came to the front door of my house in the country with a script,” Caine recalled to The Hindu in March 2020. “I could see him through the glass but I couldn’t recognize him. The moment he introduced himself, I knew exactly who he was because I was a great fan of his three small films.”
When Nolan explained his vision for Alfred as more surrogate father to Bruce Wayne than butler, he was in. “So, I did the movie and it was one of the greatest things I have done in my life,” Caine said.
“All the films I have made with him have raked in over a billion dollars, so he has to have me in a film even if he has no part for me,” the British screen veteran joked. “In Dunkirk, I was only a voice-over and I got billing in the credit title.”
And while they may be dear friends by now, Nolan doesn’t talk business at the dinner table. “I know him so well—I had dinner sitting next to him, last night, for three hours,” Caine told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. “And I know nothing about his next project.”