Nicolas Cage Says He Will Quit Acting in '3 or 4 Years'

Actor Nicolas Cage told reporters during a recent press conference in Puerto Rico that he might quit acting in three to four years to transition to directing.

The 54-year-old actor is visiting Puerto Rico to start filming his next movie, Primal, there. While talking to the press, he said he was getting back into producing through his company, Saturn Films.

"In terms of producing and directing, yes, I'm getting back into production," Cage told a journalist. "My company, Saturn Films, is involved in all the movies I'm doing now. And directing is something I'd look forward to down the road, because right now I'm primarily a film performer and I'm going to continue doing that for three or four more years and I'd like to focus more on directing."

Cage, who has an Oscar for his performance in 1995's Leaving Las Vegas, has appeared in over 90 films since he made his debut in the 1981 TV movie, Best of Times. In 2016 and 2017, he appeared in 10 movies.

The only directing credit on his resume is 2002's Sonny, which starred a young James Franco.

Before Cage can quit acting though, he still has seven films in various stages of production, according to his IMDb page. He was in Puerto Rico to start filming Primal, in which he plays a big-game hunter who gets stuck on a boat with a political assassin who lets all the animals loose.

According to Elnuevodia.com, Cage said he thinks the film will help attract visitors to the island, which is still recovering from the devastating Hurricane Maria.

"I was telling the governor that in the 1970s people were filming in California because they wanted to see the city," Cage said. "Then, in the nineties, the films started filming in New Orleans because I wanted to see the architecture, the style of that place. And I genuinely believe that the governor and you are making the same thing that happened with those cities happen in Puerto Rico. They have all the resources, the architecture, the beaches. I think that both the people of the United States, as well as those from abroad, will want to visit Puerto Rico."

Cage is a member of the famous Coppola family, but chose Cage as his professional name to distance himself from the famous family. His uncle is The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, and his cousin is Sofia Coppola, the director of Lost In Translation and The Beguiled. His other famous cousins include actors Robert Carmine and Jason Schwartzman and writer Roman Coppola.