Nicolas Cage will never retire from acting.
The 54-year-old actor has an eclectic filmography which includes hits such as ‘National Treasure’, ‘Con Air’ and ‘Leaving Las Vegas’ and although he is approaching his 60th birthday he has no desire to walk away from movies to star in "Pizza Hut commercials".
In an interview with The Times newspaper, Cage – who has endured financial difficulties over the years – said: "Relative frugality is something that I’m hopeful I can achieve because I wanna have longevity. I don’t wanna be doing Pizza Hut commercials when I’m 75. I wanna be able to continue making movies whether I’m supporting or playing leads and whether I’m making movies that are deployed on video-on-demand or going into the cinemas. I just wanna continue working and acting, or film performance if you will."
Cage can currently be seen starring alongside Selma Blair in the new crime comedy ‘Mom and Dad’ which follows a teenage girl and her younger brother who try to survive a wild 24 hours during a mass hysteria of unknown origins which causes parents to turn and kill their own children.
And Cage can identify with his character Brent Ryan who is striving to return to his youthful ways.
He said: "It’s something we all go through over time, where we’re not what we once were. My character was very successful as a teenager in high school: he had the car, he had the girlfriends, he enjoyed his popularity and his wildness. Now he’s a sort of boring cardboard cutout of a parent that we all seem to turn into. He doesn’t look as good and he’s fitting into this cookie-cutter mould of what we’re supposed to be. There’s a jealously in that, and there’s also a sense of being replaced by the children, and becoming obsolete."
Cage accepts he has appeared in some box office bombs and critically mauled movies but all his films seem to be popular in China, despite the reaction in the West.
He said: "They enjoy what I do and there’s a real interest in keeping me in business. They’ve invited me over many times. In fact, I’m going to visit again in a few months for the Beijing Film Festival."