Roman Polanski doesn't understand why people retire.

The 80-year-old director insists he has no plans to give up working anytime soon because his ''passion'' for filmmaking motivates him to continue working.

He told Variety.com: ''I never really imagined how one can retire. What do you do? Gardening? No, no, I feel really happy when I'm working. I think the best moments in my life are when I work. It was my passion when I was a young man, and it remains my passion.''

Polanski has helmed a number of iconic films throughout his career, including 1968 psychological horror 'Rosemary's Baby' and world war two drama 'The Pianist' in 2002, which are memorable achievements.

He gushed: ''I feel probably the way a carpenter feels when he's making a beautiful chair and seeing the result of his work. The work itself is satisfying, the process of getting the result.''

Polanski also claims he is willing to ''suffer'' to work on projects he is passionate about.

He added: ''It's more difficult to do what I'm doing, but maybe that confirms the concept that an artist should suffer in order to do something interesting.''