American Horror Story's Jessica Lange hints at Hollywood retirement as she admits she is 'coming to an end'
Jessica Lange has hinted that her legendary acting career is drawing to a close, admitting she feels she is “coming to an end” after nearly five decades in Hollywood.
The 77-year-old screen icon, who holds the Triple Crown of Acting with two Academy Awards, three Emmys, and a Tony, reflected on her future in a candid new interview with Rolling Stone published on Friday.
Reflecting on her latest project—a screen adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night—Lange conceded it could serve as her final curtain call.
“I actually feel like I’m coming to an end,” Lange shared, calling the film “not a bad way to end.”
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While the American Horror Story star hasn’t completely ruled out future appearances, she voiced frustration with the current landscape of the film industry, explaining that meaningful cinema is becoming increasingly difficult to get off the ground.
“There are a couple projects that have been in the works forever that may or may not happen. I don’t know,” she explained. “It doesn’t seem easy to get things made anymore. At least not the kind of films that interest me.”
Lange first burst onto the scene with a Golden Globe-winning debut in 1976’s King Kong, before going on to establish herself as one of the most celebrated performers of her generation. Across her storied career, she earned Academy Awards for Tootsie and Blue Sky, later clinching a Tony Award in 2016 for the Broadway revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night.
Looking back on those formative decades, Lange recalled working alongside Hollywood royalty and collaborating with visionary directors.
“When I think of the directors I worked with: [Bob] Fosse, Bob Rafelson, Costa-Gavras, Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz. I [had] extraordinary opportunities working with great artists,” she said.
“And the actors I was working with! Dustin [Hoffman] and Kim [Stanley] and Jack [Nicholson]. We got to throw [Martin] Scorsese in there, too. It was an extraordinary run.”
However, Lange noted that modern film sets have transformed considerably throughout her time in the business—and not always for the better.
“What I assumed was it was always going to be that exciting and thrilling, and the work was always going to be on that caliber,” she admitted. “But then, the business changes.”
She pointed directly to technological shifts, such as video playback, which she feels have eroded the collaborative intimacy that previously defined filmmaking.
Directors used to work “right next to the camera,” Lange explained, creating “a wonderful exchange of energy, this belief in each other, and this [willingness] to do better.”
“Then, of course, video playback came in, and now it’s so, so removed,” she continued. “Oftentimes, you don’t even see the director on the set, which I think is very detrimental.”
Reflecting on a historic career that balanced demanding film sets with motherhood, the mother of three hopes her legacy is ultimately grounded in authenticity.
“I’ve been incredibly lucky. I love acting, and I’ve had decades of being able to do it, which has been a joy for me,” she said. “Difficult at times, balancing family and career and locations and dragging my kids here and there. But it all was a great adventure. I’m so grateful that [it] came my way.”
When asked how she wants to be remembered in Hollywood, her answer remained simple: an “honest actor.”
Topics: American Horror Story, Celebrity
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