Depardieu swears he's ending film career

And Oscar nominee insists he was ‘not drunk’ when he said it

Luca Bruno / AP

French actor Gerard Depardieu performs during the "Rockpolitick" show on Italian TV network RAI. Depardieu insists he was stone cold sober when he made the proclamation that he's leaving movies. Bien sur!

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updated 10:36 a.m. ET Oct. 31, 2005

PARIS - Gerard Depardieu told a newspaper that he’s ending his film career — and swears he wasn’t drunk when he said it.

“I’m in the process of stopping filming,” the Academy Award-nominated actor was quoted as saying in weekly Le Parisien Dimanche. “I’m a guy who’s leaving! A guy who’s not drunk. For once.”

Depardieu, one of France’s most prolific actors, was speaking on the set of an upcoming French film and is scheduled to appear in a new installment of the “Asterix” series next year, the newspaper said.

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But he insisted his career will soon be over.

“I have nothing to lose,” the 56-year-old star said. “I have done 170 films. I have nothing left to prove. I am not going to hang on like a jerk.”

Depardieu was a leading French actor of the 1980s and 1990s with such hits as “Green Card,” “Jean de Florette” and “Cyrano de Bergerac,” for which he was nominated for an Oscar.