Admiration for Micheal Caine led Abhishek to do Players

The Hindi film is a remake of 2003 Hollywood crime thriller `The Italian Job`, which featured Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron among others.

When the director duo offered Abhishek a role in `Players`, he readily accepted and one of the reasons was his admiration for Academy Award-winning actor Caine, who starred in the 1969 British film `The Italian Job`. The 2003 version of `The Italian Job` was an American remake of the British film, which was written by Troy Kennedy Martin and directed by Peter Collinson.

"I love the attitude Caine carried in all his films. I have lost count of how many times I have seen `The Italian Job`. I have watched Caine`s version more times than (Mark) Wahlbergs`. It`s a cult film," Abhishek said.

`Players`, which also features Sonam Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Bobby Deol and Omi Vaidya, will be in theatres on January 6.