A Knight to Remember

Just call him Sir Michael. After a distinguished career that has netted him two Academy Awards (including one for his performance in last year's The Cider House Rules), Michael Caine recently was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. And don't think for a second that he's taking the accolade lightly.

"It's one of the highest honors you can get in my country," Caine tells TV Guide Online. "It's like getting an Oscar for your life because that's what they consider — the way you've conducted yourself over a lifetime.

"It takes a while for it to sink in," adds the actor, who received the knighthood under his given name, Maurice Micklewhite. "You never believe you're going to get anything like that. Now, I guess I've got to live up to what I've become."

While Caine may be on his best behavior in real life, he goes to the other extreme in his latest film, Quills, in which he makes life miserable for the Marquis De Sade (Geoffrey Rush). "Dr. Royer-Collard is the worst villain I've ever played," he says of the cynical and hypocritical doctor, who subjected De Sade to torturous treatment in a mental institution. "But I was happy to do it because I wanted to be the complete opposite of that gentle, sweet person I played in Cider House Rules. I admit I did try to get some humor out of the absolute villainy of him.

"We had to have some laughs, otherwise we'd have gone nuts," he continues. "I do my best work through relaxation, not intensity. I was especially trying to lighten up Joaquin Phoenix, who is bloody intense as the young priest in charge of the asylum. He's not hard on anyone else, just himself. He really tears himself apart, but he delivers brilliant work."