David Jason says two huge stars left his dreams of cracking Hollywood in tatters
Sir David Jason has spoken on the two British icons who stopped him from being able to become a fully-fledged Hollywood star.
Sir David Jason says that he lives in Del Boy's shadow
After becoming a British TV legend after his star turn in Only Fools and Horses, David Jason had hoped to make a significant impact on the big screen finally.
However, after meetings to discuss two lead roles, he discovered Jim Broadbent and Michael Caine bagged the parts.
Being pipped by Jim was particularly ironic as the Moulin Rouge star famously auditioned to play Del Boy, but turned it down due to theatre commitments.
But he was glad the part eventually went to Sir David, who played the market trader from 1981 to 2003.
Broadbent said: “Luckily David Jason was available so my biggest contribution to British culture is not being available.”
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Sir David, however, has always had a different impact on the big screen.
He said: “I would love to be able to declare that my collected film work on DVD would make an elegant shelf of high-class cinematic experiences to browse among an evening.
“I fear, however, that it may look more like the contents of a box pulled out from under a table at a car boot sale”.
The actor was up for lead roles in two 2023 movies — The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry and The Great Escaper.
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Broadbent beat him to the first, which he found out via a newspaper.
And Sir Michael Caine pipped him to the role of a Dunkirk veteran who flees his care home to attend a memorial across the Channel in The Great Escaper.
Sir David also shared his thoughts on Sir Cliff Richard, who he believes has been time-travelling like the movie character Marty McFly from Back to the Future.
The Only Fools and Horses star admitted he is jealous of the singer looking more youthful than him when they are both the same age - 84.
Sir David said: “Despite so many signals to the contrary, I don’t seem to be getting any younger.
"The clock ticks on, time makes its ravenous and not entirely welcome advances, and, so far as I can make out, not one of us has found a way to prevent it from doing so, with the sole exception of Cliff Richard.
“How does he do it? Cliff and I share a birth year, but I found myself quite close to him at a royal event not long ago, as you do, and I felt like I was being whisked off in the DeLorean from Back to the Future."
