Robert Redford has confirmed he will retire from acting following the release of his upcoming movie The Old Man & The Gun.
In November 2016, the All the President’s Men star announced he planned to retire from acting after the release of his final two projects, 2017 romance drama Our Souls at Night and The Old Man & the Gun.
Ahead of the crime movie’s release on 28 September (18), 81-year-old Redford has confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that he was sticking to his plan and it would be his last acting role following a 60-year career.
“Never say never, but I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me in terms of acting, and (I’ll) move towards retirement after this ’cause I’ve been doing it since I was 21. I thought, ‘Well, that’s enough.’ And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?” Redford said.
He was also known for his work behind the camera, directing projects such as Lions for Lambs, The Horse Whisperer, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and his debut Ordinary People, which scored him the Academy Award for Best Director in 1981.
When asked if he will continue to direct, the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid actor remained vague, replying, “We’ll see about that.”
In The Old Man & the Gun, which Redford also produced, he plays Forrest Tucker, the real-life career criminal and prison escape artist, and the veteran actor admitted the “framework” and the story helped him make his decision.
In the 2016 interview, conducted by his grandson Dylan Redford for the Walker Art Center, the Sundance Film Festival founder said that once those two projects were done, “I’m going to say, ‘OK, that’s goodbye to all that,’ and then just focus on directing.”
“I’m getting tired of acting,” he added. “I’m an impatient person, so it’s hard for me to sit around and do take after take after take… So, I’m thinking of moving in that direction and not acting as much.”
