Robert Redford says he’ll soon retire from acting to focus on directing, his grandson Dylan Redford wrote in a story for the Walker Art Center.
He opened up to his grandson, discussing his career and revealing that after his next two projects, he is going to retire from acting to focus on directing.
“I’m getting tired of acting,” Redford said. “I’m an impatient person, so it’s hard for me to sit around and do take after take after take. At this point in my life, age 80, it’d give me more satisfaction because I’m not dependent on anybody. It’s just me, just the way it used to be, and so going back to sketching — that’s sort of where my head is right now.
“So, I’m thinking of moving in that direction and not acting so much. I’ve got two acting projects in the works: ‘Our Souls at Night,’ with Jane Fonda, a love story for older people who get a second chance in life, and ‘Old Man with a Gun’, a lighter piece with Casey Affleck and Sissy Spacek. Once they’re done then I’m going to say, ‘Okay, that’s goodbye to all that,’ and then just focus on directing.”
Redford, 80, was last seen on the silver screen in Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon,” opposite Bryce Dallas Howard. Among his most popular films are “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Way We Were,” “The Sting,” “The Great Gatsby,” “All the President’s Men,” “The Natural” and “Out of Africa.” He won an Academy Award for directing “Ordinary People” in 1981 and was presented with an honorary Oscar in 2002.
The legendary actor was also known for his part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He played Alexander Pierce in “Captain America: The Winter Solider,” alongside Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson. This wasn’t the first time the actor was approached to join a comic book franchise.
He had been approached by Warner Bros. to play Superman back in Richard Donner’s film in 1978, a role that eventually went to Christopher Reeve.
Redford is also responsible for starting the Sundance Film Festival, which has become a staple in Hollywood for launching filmmakers.