After Oprah, Alec Baldwin to Call it Quits, Too!

"It's a difficult thing to say, but I believe it: I consider my entire movie career a complete failure. I'll tell you why. The goal of movie making is to star in a film where your performance drives the film, and the film is either a soaring critical or commercial success, and I never had that." - Alec Baldwin in an interview to 'Men's Journal'.

This is the candid justification that actor Alec Baldwin chose to provide his fans with, while declaring his decision to quit acting in three years time. The 51 year old actor who entertained audiences with his stellar roles in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Cooler, The Shadow, The Aviator and Beetle Juice, the cult classic that created a furor in 1988, also said that, "Movies are a part of my past. It's been 30 years. I'm not young, but I have time to do something else." Baldwin, who started his acting career in television back in the 1980s, went on to bag an Oscar nomination for his role in The Cooler (2003) and also set the screens ablaze as the iconic character of Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October in 1990. However, the actor now feels that the film grossed over 200 million dollars worldwide only because it was well adapted from the Tom Clancy bestseller. The interview which shall hit stands coming Friday, also captures the actor saying, "The movies I've been in, I never give them a moment's thought. Every movie I've ever been in, I just avoid."

Currently, Baldwin stars in the romantic comedy It's Complicated, directed by Nancy Meyers, which will hit screens on 25th December, 2009. The film shows Baldwin and Steve Martin both contending for the love of Meryl Streep. Martin is also slated to co-host the 2010 Oscar ceremony with Baldwin.

In spite of the actor's evident disappointment with his movie career, fans worldwide can vouch for the lasting impressions he left, even in special appearances in movies like Glengarry Glen Ross as Blake, and The Departed as the commander of the Special Investigations Unit, Captain George Ellerby. The actor also has two of both the Emmy and the Golden Globe Awards in his kitty along with a nomination from the Screen Actors Guild Awards. His role as the witty Jack Donaghy, with his 'sharp as a tack' humor on NBC's hilarious sitcom "30 Rock", has won him several accolades.

Baldwin has however shown interest in treading down the political path in future.