Anthony Hopkins Calls It a Day

06/01/1999 at 12:00 AM EDT

Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins is claiming he's retiring from films. The surprise announcement came in Rome over the weekend, when he told reporters, "Acting is bad for mental health. I can't take it anymore ... I have wasted my life." Friends reportedly believe that the bad reviews of "Meet Joe Black," in which Hopkins costars with Brad Pitt, and the strain of having just filmed Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" in Rome contributed to Hopkins' remarks. But as one Hopkins pal told the New York Post: "This has happened before, and it'll happen again. He's just going through one of his moments."