(HOLLYWOOD) —
George Pimentel/Getty ImagesMovie legend Robert Redford, star of films like All the President’s Men, The Great Gatsby, The Natural and The Sting, says his time in front of the camera has come to an end.
The Sundance Film Festival founder tells Entertainment Weekly that he was serious back in 2016 when he said he was retiring from acting, and his role in the film The Old Man and The Gun will be his last. The movie, about real-life bank robber Forrest Tucker, debuts September 28. It co-stars Sissy Spacek, Danny Glover, Tom Waits and Casey Affleck.
“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 tells EW. “I thought, ‘Well, that’s enough.’ And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?”
The Academy Award-winner says he was excited to play Tucker, who spent 60 years robbing banks and escaping from prison.
“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,” Redford says. “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?”
Redford, who’s 81, has been acting for 60 years – it’s possible he might continue directing. He won an Oscar for the first movie he directed, 1980’s Ordinary People. He also directed Quiz Show, A River Runs Through It and The Horse Whisperer, among other films.
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