Alec Baldwin to Retire?

By our guest blogger, Rob Stammitti

Is the man who brings the "rock" to "30 Rock" and taught those salesman the way of the sale in "Glengarry Glen Ross" really planning on retiring? According to "The Guardian," it's true. The Oscar-nominated actor plans to retire in 2012.

"I consider my entire movie career a complete failure," [Baldwin said]. "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."

"And now, the movies I've been in, I never give them a moment's thought," he added. "Every movie I've ever been in, I just avoid."

It's certainly not my place to argue with the man, but I personally believe his career has been far from a failure. He's had significant roles in films from Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton, Wes Anderson and Oliver Stone, and has managed to balance dramatic roles with more popular fare (he played Jack Ryan in "The Hunt for Red October" and co-starred in Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor"). And even putting all that aside, he's gone on to star in one of the most popular television comedies in recent history, for which he's been nominated for three Emmy's in a row and won two.

I'm hoping a couple more years on "30 Rock" along with a few more roles in film will rekindle his interest in the craft, but if he does in fact go through with the retirement, at least he'll have plenty of fine work behind him and plenty of time ahead of him to do whatever he wishes.

Baldwin will be co-hosting the upcoming Academy Awards along with Steve Martin on March 7, 2010.