Depardieu to retire

The French star Gerard Depardieu who has become synonymous with his country's cinema has announced that he is to retire from the movie business.

Depardieu, star of Jean De Florette and Cyrano De Bergerac, told said Le Parisien: "I have nothing to lose. I have made 170 films. I have nothing left to prove."

Despite having a long career in France he probably first came to the attention of most British film goers in Peter Weir's romantic comedy Green Card starring alongside Andie MacDowell.

Since then he has appeared in many English language films including 1492: Conquest Of Paradise, directed by Ridley Scott, My Father The Hero, and 102 Dalmatians, alongside Glenn Close and Ioan Gruffudd.

His agent, Claude Davy, sees the decision in a more relaxed light. He claims that Depardieu has been threatening to leave the film industry for ten years.

However, Davy conceded that the Oscar-nominated actor would be seen on film much less often, probably only making one film every three years.

"He is fed up of cinema. It doesn’t amuse him anymore. He wants to do deals, he wants to do other things than act," he said.

If Depardieu's claims can be believed his last film will be Michou D'Auber, an Algerian war of independence drama, but he has been lined up to star as Obelix in the follow up to Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra.

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