Alfie Revisited

One of Britain's most celebrated photographers has recreated his classic portrait of Sir Michael Caine with his 21st century counterpart, Jude Law.

David Bailey used the same camera for the photograph of Law who is reprising one of Caine's most famous roles as heartless lothario Alfie.

Nearly 40 years after the shoot in 1965 when Caine filmed the original Alfie, Bailey used a twin-lens Rolleiflex for the session in London earlier this year. Like Caine, now 71, Law wears a sharp, slim-fitting black suit, a narrow tie, simple white shirt and pouts on a cigarette.

However, Law, 31, is not wearing the thick black spectacles Caine made famous in the Harry Palmer films: that, perhaps, would have been a tribute too far.

Bailey said: "I don't normally like revisiting the past - it's gone, after all. But this was a bit of fun really."

The Law picture was commissioned for men's magazine Arena, which used Bailey's 1965 shot on the cover in 1988. Bailey said of Law: "Jude is a real film star - he has that Gregory Peck, James Stewart quality that is only shared by one other Brit, Sean Connery. Caine is a star too, but he's more of an actor. Jude exudes Fifties Hollywood star presence. There just aren't many of his kind around these days. He's not one of those silly boys with hundreds of agents and PRs running around."

Law was wary of taking the role. He said: "I was interested because I didn't know if I could pull this off. To me that's a really good sign that it's going to be something that you're going to have to raise your game for.

"But all my instincts were saying 'Hmm, you don't like remakes, this is a brilliant film, it's the landmark performance of Michael Caine, one of your heroes, do you really want to go there?'"

Law says the character of the Cockney Don Juan who struts around West London is not out of date. He said: "There's no doubt that individuals with Alfie's attitude existed back then and there's no doubt they exist today."

"Some would even say that his attitude is actually more relevant to the way people currently think - that is, more freely with regards to sex and dating."