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Vin Diesel wheeled Michael Caine onto the red carpet in Jeddah on Thursday at the Red Sea International Film Festival which honoured the 92-year-old actor with an award.
The festival opened with the Middle East premiere of Giant, Rowan Athale’s biopic of British-Yemeni boxing champion “Prince” Naseem Hamed, starring Amir El-Masry and Pierce Brosnan.
Among those attending were Dakota Johnson, Uma Thurman, Ana de Armas, Queen Latifah, Nina Dobrev, Kirsten Dunst and Jessica Alba, as well as jury president Sean Baker and jury members Riz Ahmed, Naomie Harris, Nadine Labaki and Olga Kurylenko.
Diesel, who worked with Caine on The Last Witch Hunter in 2015, wheeled Caine onto the red carpet before they posed for photographs.
At the opening ceremony, Diesel presented Caine with the honorary award, and described the actor as a “fellow family man”.
“Tonight is more special for me personally because I’ve been asked to recognise someone who you all know as one of the best actors who’s ever lived,” he said, according to Variety. “He’s been somebody that, as Uma Thurman said, could play character roles or main roles, and all the while has more charisma in his finger than most people in Hollywood.”
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Vin Diesel wheeled Michael Caine onto the red carpet at the Red Sea International Film Festival on Thursday, as the 92-year-old actor arrived in Jeddah to receive an honoree award (Getty Images for the Red Sea Int)
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‘I’m just so happy to be here. I’ve seen it on television but never won anything here, so I’m happy,’ said Caine (Getty Images for The Red Sea Int)
Caine, who was accompanied by his three grandchildren, reflected on his seven-decade-long career and family.
“Thank you for the welcome. My name is Michael Caine,” the Inception star began, to massive applause from the audience.
“It’s not my real name but it’s a realistic name. It’s the one that made all the money. I was born a cockney in London, which is very poor working class, and I grew up to be what I am which is, well, I am not multiple rich, but I’ve got enough money for an evening out, even an evening in.”
“I’ve been married for 52 years. I have loads of photographs but none are of any of the movies I am in, it’s just family, because that’s my life.”
“I’m here to get an award, which doesn’t surprise me. I won two Oscars,” he continued, referring to his two best supporting actor Oscars for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and The Cider House Rules (1999). He was also nominated for best actor at the Oscars four times.
“I have a fabulous family that I adore beyond belief. I’ve had a fairly fabulous movie family, some who’ve let me down, and I love them beyond belief, including the failures. I kept going until I was 90, which is two years ago. I’m not going to do anything else, I’ve had all the luck I can get.”
“And one of the luckiest things is tonight,” he said. “I’m just so happy to be here. I’ve seen it on television but never won anything here, so I’m happy. I want to thank you for the surprise, because in show business you don’t get many surprises, you get a couple of shocks and that’s about it.”
The ceremony took place inside the Red Sea Film Foundation’s new headquarters in Jeddah’s Al-Balad district. Other festival honourees this year include Sigourney Weaver, Juliette Binoche, Rachid Bouchareb, and Stanley Tong.
The Red Sea Film Festival will be held in Jeddah from 4 December to 13 December 2025.
In September, some reports said Caine was planning to reunite Diesel for a forthcoming sequel to Last Witch Hunter, despite its poor critical reception upon release.
