Alec Baldwin Still Says 30 Rock Is The End Of His Acting Career

Actors claim to retire all the time, only to later make a dramatic comeback when the right project comes along, or boredom hits or the IRS comes calling. So I don't know how seriously to take Alec Baldwin's statement that when 30 Rock wraps, so will his acting career. He started on that line earlier this year and is explaining it more now. I'm skeptical right now, even as in the back of my mind there's a little voice saying "no!"

Reuters quotes from Baldwin's upcoming interview in Men's Journal.

"I don't have any interest in acting anymore," Baldwin says. "Movies are a part of my past. It's been 30 years. I'm not young, but I have time to do something else". He says 30 Rock is "pretty much it" for him, which complements statements earlier this year to Playboy that he's done with acting in 2012 and that he'll retire at 30 Rock's wrap party.

"I consider my entire movie career a complete failure," he says in the new interview. "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."

I can't say anything either way about how he views his career, but the latter statement is total bullshit. First, the goal of acting in films is acting well. Some of the best acting, whether on screen, television or the stage, takes place as part of an ensemble. He's been part of more than a few. When they're firing on all cylinders (which, ahem, isn't much of this season) 30 Rock's group of actors is one of the best in television comedy. Jack Donaghy is a character that will never die.

Second, Baldwin has one of the all-time great appearances on film. Evidently he doesn't understand he stole the show in Glengarry Glen Ross. Having that moment on my resume would do it for me. (Watch the embed below to revisit, or if you're one of the five people who's never seen his scene.) My god, that scene is good.