Robert Redford says he’s retiring from acting after teasing the end of his career in front of the camera two years ago.
“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,” Redford, 81, told Entertainment Weekly. “I thought, Well, that’s enough. And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?”
In 2016, Redford said he would retire from acting after “The Old Man & the Gun,” which stars Casey Affleck and Donald Glover, and focus more on directing. “The Old Man & the Gun” will be screening at next month’s Toronto International Film Festival.
“I’m getting tired of acting,” Redford had 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.”
Now, when asked whether he will focus more on directing projects, Redford said, “we’ll see about that.” In 1981, he won a Best Director Academy Award for 1980’s “Ordinary People.” He’s also directed eight other films. His other credits include “Truth,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “The Conspirator” “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.”
Redford is also responsible for starting the Sundance Film Festival, which has become a staple in Hollywood for launching filmmakers.
A spokesperson for Redford has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.