Almost two years after saying he’ll be soon done with acting, Robert Redford makes good on his announcement.
The 81-year-old actor confirmed that he’s retiring from acting during an interview for Entertainment Weekly. Back in 2016, he said, “Once Our Souls at Night and The Old Man & The Gun wrapped I’m going to say, ‘OK, that’s goodbye to all that,’ and then just focus on directing.” Our Souls at Night was released in 2017, and The Old Man & The Gun, is scheduled to premiere on September 28.
“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 tells the outlet.
Redford also spoke of his last character, Forrest Tucker, a career criminal in love with robbing banks and breaking out of prison, saying that playing this character at this point of his career is a true delight.
“To me, that was a wonderful character to play at this point in my life. The thing that really got me about him — which I hope the film shows — is he robbed 17 banks and he got caught 17 times and went to prison 17 times. But he also escaped 17 times. So it made me wonder: I wonder if he was not averse to getting caught so he that could enjoy the real thrill of his life, which is to escape?”
After a career spanning almost sixty years, Robert Redford bids his fans adieu.
