HOLLYWOOD -- So Joaquin Phoenix has announced he's giving up acting.

It's not that we don't wish the 34-year-old Oscar nominee well in his future endeavours (he wants to focus on his music), it's just that we've heard that song before.

Over the years everyone from Sean Penn -- almost like clockwork -- to Johnny Depp has crooned notably similar refrains.

But with the exception of, say, Sean Connery, who has never looked back after announcing he was quitting the profession in 2005, and the late Paul Newman, who had always maintained that the TV movie Empire Falls would mark his last screen appearance, retirement has proven fleeting.

The Walk the Line star might have every intention of walking the walk, but many of his colleagues have been all talk, as the following would indicate:

Quitter: Sean Penn

Quote: "Filmmaking is more interesting to me than acting. Acting, I've gone from a love/hate relationship to a dark, bitter hatred." (2007)

Not Quite: Milk (2008), Crossing Over (2009), The Tree of Life (2009)

Quitter: Nicolas Cage

Quote: "I'm not interested in showing my face or making statements ... some movie stars look like they're having a ball, but I'm tired of it." (2008)

Not Quite: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), Knowing (2009), Kick-Ass (2009), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2009), (shall we keep going?)

Quitter: Anthony Hopkins

Quote: "Acting is bad for the mental health. I can't take it any more. This has got to stop. I have wasted my life." (1998)

Not Quite: Hannibal (2001), The Human Stain (2003), Alexander (2004), Proof (2005), Fracture (2007), Beowulf (2007), The Wolf Man (2009).

Quitter: Philip Seymour Hoffman

Quote: "I think a lot about giving up acting now." (1999)

Not Quite: Cold Mountain (2003), Capote (2005), Mission: Impossible III (2006), The Savages (2007), Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Doubt (2008).

Quitter: Jamie Lee Curtis

Quote: It's not that I'm retired, I just no longer accept acting work." (2005)

Not Quite: Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008)

Quitter: Keira Knightley

Quote: "I made a decision very recently that I wanted a life instead. The celebrity thing is completely crazy. I think I just have to move away or give it up altogether." (2007)

Not Quite: The Duchess (2008), Last Night (2009), The Beautiful and the Damned (2009), King Lear (2010).

Quitter: Hayden Christensen

Quote: "Maybe the new Star Wars will be my last movie. I don't find Hollywood interesting, so I'm thinking about studying architecture instead." (2005)

Not Quite: Awake (2007), Jumper (2008), Bone Deep (2010).

Quitter: Diane Lane

Quote: "(Nights in Rodanthe) is the last film, and by that I could mean it any way. It's the last one I did, and it's the last one I'm gonna do for a while, and it's the last one I have in the can...and then we'll see." (2008)

Not Quite: Killshot (2009)

Quitter: Freddie Prinze Jr.

Quote: "I'm going to stop acting in the next few years because it's just too weird." (2003)

Promises, promises.