Sir Michael Caine has dubbed himself as “a big feminist”

He said: “Women want more freedom and I agree with that. I am a big feminist.”

However, the ‘Italian Job’ star doesn’t necessarily believe that the gender pay gap issue exists in Hollywood, despite the recent scandal involving the reshoots for ‘All The Money In The World’, in which Mark Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million, and his co-star Michelle Williams received just $1,000.

But Michael has revealed that in many of the movie’s he has starred in, his female co-stars have been paid the same as him, if not more.

He said: “I worked with Elizabeth Taylor and I got about ten per cent of the money she got. I never realised women were underpaid. I worked with Jane Fonda, and they all got more money than me or the same.”

The ‘Dark Knight’ actor praised the 1960s for “freeing women” with the start of the sexual revolution, as he says it was the first time women were allowed to wear short skirts and stay out late just as the men did.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper, Michael said: “I loved the short skirts. But the ladies seem to love them, too. I look back on the Sixties as freeing women. That was the start.

“Women were free to go out, have a drink and stay out late. Before that, I came from the Elephant and Castle, which was a bit like Sicily - if you kissed a girl the brothers came round and said you’ve got to marry her.”