Alec Baldwin Says He’s Done with Acting

In a recent interview with Men’s Journal [via Reuters], Alec Baldwin, currently one of the most (intentionally) funny men on television right now, says he’ll be retiring from acting after 2012.  He’s pretty down on himself in the piece saying that his entire film acting career has been a failure. “I consider my entire movie career a complete failure,” he told Men’s Journal. “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’m sorry that Baldwin uses that metric because he’s not only an insanely talented comedian, but when most people think of the film version of Glengarry Glen Ross, his single scene in the film immediately comes to mind.  He also picked up a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in 2003’s The Cooler and is already garnering some Oscar buzz this year for his work in Nancy Meyer’s upcoming romantic comedy, It’s Complicated.

Baldwin, who will co-host the Oscars this year with Steve Martin, plans to retire at the 2012 season wrap party for 30 Rock.  While I’m saddened at the thought of Baldwin, who’s only 51, leaving the acting game, at least we can all enjoy the glory that is Jack Donaghy for another two years.