Sam Mendes can imagine himself giving up making movies so he can direct plays "into his 80s".
The 53-year-old British director has an enormous passion for the theatre and although he still very much loves to take "vacations" on movies he "always returns" to stage productions and he can imagine himself stepping away from Hollywood sooner rather than later.
Speaking on the Variety Stagecraft podcast, he said: "I’m a theatre person really, that’s how I think of myself. I take vacations in the movies and they’re long and extremely hard working vacations but never the less that’s how they feel. Movies for me are where I want to go when I feel a little trapped or a little claustrophobic in the theatre. Theatre is where I tend to want to go when I feel a little exhausted and over travelled in movies and I’m lucky enough to go back and forth – but for me theatre is where I always return to.
"I can imagine myself directing plays into my 80s, I can’t always imagine myself directing movies if I last that long."
Although he loves the theatre, Mendes – who helmed the last two James Bond movies, ‘Skyfall’ and ‘Spectre’ – admits musicals have not really appealed to him over the years but he did love working on ‘Cabaret’ – which he helmed in 1993 in London’s West End and again on the show’s third Broadway revival in 2014 – and it is one of the "few productions" he misses working on.
He said: "I don’t think there are that many that haven’t been done pretty damn recently or I’ve already done them and that hasn’t always been my happy space. I loved ‘Cabaret’, that was a great experience for me and it’s one of the few productions that I still miss."
Sam Mendes wants to work in the theatre in his 80s
