Cannes 2015: Michael Caine relaxed about nude scenes in new film Youth

The 82-year-old actor’s semi-naked body is frequently seen in close-up in Paolo Sorrentino’s bittersweet age drama which has just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Sir Michael said: “It didn’t matter to me because it’s the only body I’ve got, an ageing body.

“To people who are not old, this is what’s going to happen to you. So don’t get too smug about it.

“The only alternative to playing elderly people is playing dead people. So I’m quite smart, I picked elderly people. I thought that’s a better idea.”

The Dark Knight star plays a retired conductor reflecting on the passing of time and memories of his wife, a former singer.

Harvey Keitel, 76, turns in a solid performance as a once-great director whose best work is behind him, while Jane Fonda, 77, plays his one-time muse and steals her scenes in a performance as cantankerous older actress. She has exaggerated makeup and a near-drag-queen wig, which at one point, humiliatingly falls off in a hysterical diva scene on a plane.

Jane said she relished the warts-and-all performance.

“There’s something very vulnerable about an old woman who puts on the mask of make-up and everything, and when that’s stripped away she becomes very vulnerable and it’s fun to play,” she said.

Jane — who is famously honest about her age — said Youth’s message struck a chord.

“For me this movie called Youth says something that I agree with very much – that age is much a question of attitude. If you have passion in your life… you remain young and vital in your mind — which is your spirit,” said the age-defying Barbarella star, who with two Oscars and a six-decade career to her name, has nothing left to prove.