Nicolas Cage says he is ‘never going to retire’ from acting: ‘That can’t happen’

‘To do what I do in cinema has been like a guardian angel for me, and I need it,’ actor said

Nicolas Cage has said that he is “never going to retire” from acting.

The actor, who turned 57 in January, made the claim in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, ahead of the release of his new film, Prisoners of the Ghostland.

Asked about retirement, Cage said: “That can’t happen. To do what I do in cinema has been like a guardian angel for me, and I need it.

“I’m healthier when I’m working, I need a positive place to express my life experience, and filmmaking has given me that. So I’m never going to retire. Where are we now, 117 movies?”

Cage recently drew rave reviews for his performance in the independent drama Pig, playing a reclusive former chef whose beloved truffle pig is stolen.

He continued: “What’s funny is, my argument with people who go, ‘You work too much,’ was ‘I like working, and it’s healthy, I’m happy when I’m working, and by the way, guys like Cagney and Bogart, they were doing hundreds of movies.’ And then I went, ‘I’d better check that,’ and I went, ‘Oops.’

“Jerry Lewis was one of my friends, and he and I would go and have dinner together, and he would say, ‘How many movies you got?’ I go, ‘I got about 100, how many you got?’ ‘I got 40. So you got twice as much as me?’ ‘Well, I didn’t know that, Jerry.’”

Prisoners of the Ghostland is out in select cinemas now.