Beyoncé Told Michael Caine on Austin Powers Set That She Wants to ‘Win an Academy Award for a Movie’ One Day

Caine opened up about working with the music superstar in his new book

Michael Caine had a front-row seat to Beyoncé’s brilliance way back in 2002.

Caine, 92, opened up about working with Beyoncé, 43, on 2002’s Austin Powers in Goldmember in his new book Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over: My Guide to Life. The film — the third and final installment in the Austin Powers series — saw Caine play Nigel Powers, the father of Mike Myers’ super spy Austin. Beyoncé played Foxxy Cleopatra, who parodied blaxploitation heroines, while Caine’s character referenced the Swinging ‘60s parts he played during that decade.

“The whole series was a send-up of the Sixties, and the fashion, and all the psychedelic stuff,” Caine said in the book, which is a conversation between the actor and journalist Matthew d’Ancona. “Just lampooning the whole decade in the best possible way.” Getting asked to do the movie was “too good an opportunity to pass up.” 

“I loved doing that movie, poking fun at the Sixties but also celebrating it all again. It was great fun,” he said.

d’Ancona, 57, then asked about Caine’s memories of Beyoncé. “Only nineteen at the time, I think, and a very nice person,” Caine said of the Cowboy Carter singer. “You could already tell how focused she was and how big a star she was going to be.”

And that focus was apparent immediately to the two-time Oscar winner. “I remember the first day on set, I asked her what her ambition was, and she said, ‘I want to win an Academy Award for a movie.’ Not a trace of arrogance, just clarity,” Caine remembered. Goldmember was Beyoncé’s big screen debut, and it came just before she left Destiny’s Child to go solo.

d’Ancona pointed out that Beyoncé was nominated for an Oscar in 2023 for her song “Be Alive” from King Richard. Caine said, “I’m sure she’ll win an Oscar eventually. She’s already won a bunch of Grammys!” He called her 30 Grammys a “phenomenal achievement.”

As for Beyoncé in the comedy film, she said, “On set, she was totally engaged in the comedy, as we all were – Michael York and Robert Wagner, and the late Verne Troyer, who played Mini-Me so brilliantly. Mike Myers is a sort of crazy genius, and a lovely guy, who kept us all laughing and enjoying ourselves.”

“I remember him playing loud rock’n’roll between takes, which was a new one on me!” Caine said. “He knew a lot about my movies and couldn’t have been more charming to me. I had a really good time.”

As for acting in general, Caine said in his book that he thinks it’s important to not worry about having a “perfect score card” in one’s career. He explained, “Everybody makes mistakes – in fact, something’s gone wrong if you don’t. It shows you’re being too cautious, too wary of risk. What makes the difference is how you deal with failure, how you get its measure, and move on.”

Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over: My Guide to Life is now available wherever you purchase your books.