Looking back on film partners
Actor Robert Redford reflects on some of his classic twohanders leading up to the release of A Walk in the Woods, his latest buddy adventure with co-star Nick Nolte:
BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
“We played partners who bitched and moaned at each other but who were loyal to each other. I thought that was a nice dynamic,” said Redford, who first met Paul Newman on the project.
“The studio didn’t want me because I was not a name equal to Paul’s. I was just sort of moving up at that time. There was a big argument that went on for months and months. They said it had to be a star. (Newman) said, ‘Well, I want to work with an actor’ because Paul respected acting. Had it not been for Paul, I would not have gotten that break.”
THE STING (1973)
“After Butch Cassidy we became very close friends. The Sting just sort of fell into place naturally,” said Redford. “What was interesting was the switcher-o. Paul had played these iconic, quiet, still characters in the past and that’s not what Paul is. He was a chatty, nervous guy who was always biting his fingernails. He always had tape on his fingernails. He used to chain smoke, before he stopped smoking, and was always drinking beer. He was a very nervous guy. He loved to have fun and play games,” said Redford.
“He loved to tell jokes that were so awful. He’d tell you a joke at 11 o’clock and he’d be the only guy laughing. And then he’d tell the same joke again at 2, forgetting that he’d already told it. We had to live through that,” he said.
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976)
“The history of that project is almost more interesting than the project,” said Redford.
During a tour for the movie The Candidate, Redford overheard some journalists gossiping about the Watergate break-in. When Redford asked what they were going to do about it, he was appalled at their apparent lack of interest in poking around the suspicious situation. Redford followed the story in the papers and was struck by the double byline of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
“I wanted to know who these guys were, who created all this disturbance,” said Redford. “I read an article in some minor publication and I thought, ‘Wow, one guy was a Jew, one guy was a WASP. One guy was a Republican, the other guy was a liberal. One guy was a good writer, the other wasn’t very good. They didn’t like each other, but they had to work together. Now, that’s an interesting dynamic I’d love to know about.’”
Redford wanted to cast two unknowns, but the studio wouldn’t do it without Redford starring.
“So I went to Dustin Hoffman.”