Nic No Longer Caged by Acting

Mon., Dec. 11, 2006 10:43 AM PST by Gina Serpe

Someone break it to the Academy: the world has officially been denied a follow-up to Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Nicolas Cage has announced plans to curtail his future acting endeavors in order to pursue interests outside of the realm of Tinseltown.

The Oscar winner made the semi-retirement announcement over the weekend at the third annual Bahamas International Film Festival.

"I'm thinking about taking more time in between movies," the 42-year-old actor told the Associated Press. "I feel I've made a lot of movies already and I want to start exploring other opportunities that I can apply myself to, whether it's writing or other interests that I may develop."

While Cage may be reducing his workload, he was quick to note he's not taking himself out of the Hollywood game completely. And even in light of his announced career break, the actor won't be absent from the big screen for quite some time.

The World Trade Center star, who has appeared in more than 55 films over his three-decade career, currently has eight movies in the pipeline, ensuring that his live cockroach-eating days aren't entirely behind him.

And Bahamians, at least, are doing their part to offer incentive for the actor's return.

On Friday, the actor was lauded with the film festival's Chopard Award for career achievement, presented to him by his Rock costar Sean Connery.

The movie vet, who earlier this year purchased a 40-acre undeveloped island in the Bahamas, announced that while he may be temporarily absent from the big screen, he'll continue to work diligently behind the scenes, directing much of his attention to his new place of residency.

"My hope for the [Bahama Film] festival is that it continues to grow and...that will allow me to bring in the people I know in the industry and hopefully that will stimulate conversations between the older, seasoned talent with the young, hungry talent that's displayed here," he told the AP.

While Cage's absence from pictures will be something of a loss, it won't deliver the sort of Hollywood-crushing blow it might once have. However, despite his less than fruitful run in the late '90s, starring in critical and box office bombs 8MM, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Bringing Out the Dead and Snake Eyes, the actor has enjoyed a resurgence of sorts in the past few years.

After receiving an Oscar nomination for his work in 2002's Adaptation, Cage went on to star in the blockbuster action flick National Treasure, and, more recently, in Oliver Stone's critically acclaimed World Trade Center.

Before his once again waning career—though self-imposed this time around—completely fizzles out, he'll star in a slew of big screen offerings. Among the higher profile gigs are a Marvel comic adaptation of Ghost Rider, due out in February, and National Treasure II: The Book of Secrets, due out next Christmas.

In addition to allowing him to pursue other interests, Cage's break from the Hollywood grind will also afford the star more time to become a veritable family man. Cage and his wife of two years, Alice Kim, welcomed super-son Kal-El Coppola Cage last October.