Whilst out in Korea promoting his upcoming film, Moneyball (which I have a really strong feeling will be incredible), Brad Pitt spoke about his retirement from acting and put a life-span on himself at three years. Thankfully, however, he’s backed up a bit from that specific number, THR report, to say that he’s not got an exact date in mind, simply that he can see a time coming when he’ll move away from acting, with an eye to continuing his already brilliantly established career as a producer.

The iconic actor has two Oscar nominations to his name (and I’m hoping a third will be added to that in a couple of months’ time), and was last seen in Terrence Malick’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner, The Tree of Life. His next film, Moneyball, hits the UK in a week and a half on 25th November, which is a date I cannot wait for.

It was during the interviews for this film that details of his thoughts about retiring came up:

““I wasn’t putting an exact deadline on my expiration date (as an actor) but I just see it coming and I do have an interest in the producing side,” the actor said during the Korean stopover for the promotional tour of Moneyball.

“I’m interested in a mixed bunch about complex stories that might have difficulty getting made in the current system or getting behind the talent they might be needing,” Pitt said.”

Since his feature debut as a producer on Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, Pitt has gone on to serve as producer for a wide variety of films, ranging from Ryan Murphy’s Running With Scissors to Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass, as well as several of the films he himself has starred in, including The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Tree of Life, and the upcoming Moneyball, along with all his future acting projects lined up so far.

I have a lot of love for Pitt, who is by far one of my favourite actors, starring in several of my favourite films, and I would be one of so many people who would be sad to see him disappear from in front of the camera in years to come. But the saying does of course go that it’s better to burn out than fade away (though I’m convinced fading away would be an impossibility for someone as good as Pitt), and if producing is something he’s interested in, I can imagine it would definitely be a strong help for those films that are finding difficulty in getting made to have Pitt come on board as a producer for them. Let’s just hope that if he does retire from acting in years to come, it won’t be entirely permanent, but more that he’ll be more selective in his roles, and pick films to star in once every few years. That’s my hope, at least. Naturally, only time will tell.