Nicolas Cage has outlined his retirement plan while clarifying comments he previously made about only having a handful of movies "left in me."
The actor, 60, said during a 2023 interview with Vanity Fair that he was "starting to cement" his plans to retire from acting, noting, "I may have three or four more movies left in me."
"I do feel I’ve said what I’ve had to say with cinema," he added. "I think I took film performance as far as I could."
In a new interview with The New Yorker, the actor elaborated on his comments.
"Well, I did two or three very supporting roles. So maybe three or four more lead roles. Maybe that’s more of what I was saying," he said, noting that he viewed "Longlegs" as a supporting role.
In the horror movie, Cage portrays a mysterious, Satanic serial killer known by the title.
"It would have been a slippery slope. I think it could have lapsed into something almost too ridiculous. You don’t want to see that the shark is made of rubber, you know? You want the shark to be terrifying and keep it under the water for a lot of it," he said.
On Monday Cage also revealed that his mother was one of his inspirations for the role in "Longlegs."
Speaking at the film's Los Angeles premiere, Cage explained how for his character, "it’s the voices, it’s not really him; he’s been hijacked by something else. I’ve often thought what was it that happened to my mom — if I’m any good in this movie, it’s because of my mother.
"That also gave me a bit of empathy for the character, as crazy as what his situation is and what he’s getting up to with these effigies," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Cage's extensive acting career boats multiple roles across genres but in his The New Yorker interview, Cage recommended his film "Pig" to anyone who was unfamiliar with his work.
The 2021 drama is directed and written by Michael Sarnoski and stars Cage stars as a truffle hunter looking look for his beloved foraging pig after being kidnapped.
"It’s something that I think people can get something out of because tragedy is going to hit all of us at some point. It’s just a matter of when," he said. "It’s also a movie that to me is like a folk song. It’s a very quiet, gentle movie, which is the opposite of what we started our conversation with — people thinking I’m crazy."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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