Michael Caine Broke His Kissing Rule For Superman! (But Why?)

Michael Caine Broke His Kissing Rule for Christopher Reeve!

It's hard to believe, but legendary actor Michael Caine, actually had a big no-kissing rule! We're talking about kissing guys. This rule even came up in the hilarious 1980s thriller, Deathtrap! That's right!

What Made Michael Caine Break His "Kissing Rule"?

For this one time, he broke his rule because he was kissing a superhero! Well, Superman, actually. The part was played by Christopher Reeve who's, well, famous for that role. You can imagine - with Caine's legendary acting career, you know this had to be super important!

How'd This Rule Start?

Caine had this strict rule ever since he started out in the 1930s and 1940s when he was a kid! There wasn’t a ton of equality in movies at the time, and his early acting was actually in all-boys' schools!

It really sucked - one of those school plays, Caine was in a love scene but it turned out his "partner" had really bad breath and wasn't too cute to boot. So he backed out! It left him totally grossed out. So from then on - he was never going to kiss a fellow actor!
It’s interesting - how his own experiences in early theater had a big influence on his future acting. Caine didn’t really mind when they got around to actually filming Deathtrap! You just know that had to be a funny moment and a cool change in his acting career!

Why Did Michael Caine Want to Kiss Christopher Reeve?

There was a lot going on in that kiss scene. This actually happened in the "Deathtrap" film. This scene really stands out because it's considered to be quite progressive, given the Deathtrap film was set in 1982 - back in the day. It made a ton of controversy, though! People weren't happy!

Even Christopher Reeve, during a movie interview, admitted that kiss probably made them lose ten million bucks because everyone complained so much. What is important is that it helped get a ton of buzz and press for Deathtrap and all these movies by Sidney Lumet who directed a bunch of amazing films and Ira Levin, too! The two did have the power to ask the director to cut that part, but they really embraced it!

Wait - How Could Michael Caine Just Ignore This Kissing Rule?

Well, he's pretty funny. He said there were actually a couple reasons, but you'll love how he put it in his autobiography:

Caine says he totally fell in love with the man he kissed because "It's Superman"! He's basically the guy who saved the world.
He's hilarious; he mentions that Christopher Reeve's breath just smelled like brandy. They had been drinking a bit before they shot that scene.
And to top it off, Caine just said he got paid a million bucks! Who can resist a paycheck like that!

This is one for the history books, because Michael Caine actually changed his whole view on those kissing scenes for films, that were just really uncomfortable, because of the power of Christopher Reeve as Superman! That scene was also just really important for Hollywood - it made some really important progress and the movie's lasting legacy, since this was a big part of the film, in a lot of movies reviews. Classic Films are never the same! It's also so exciting to know those iconic moments happen in movies.

The funny thing about this rule is that he was talking about doing those romantic scenes in movies! If you ever get a chance to watch Deathtrap you'll really get the context for that rule.