Redford setting acting aside after 60 years
After a six decades-long career, Robert Redford has confirmed his plan to retire from acting.
His upcoming caper, “The Old Man & the Gun,” will likely be his final gig as an actor, he said in a recent interview.
“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,” the 81-yearold told Entertainment Weekly.
“I thought, ‘Well, that’s enough.’ And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?”
The comedic biopic, based on career bank robber Forrest Tucker’s string of heists and prison breakouts, hits theaters in September and also stars Elisabeth Moss, Sissy Spacek and Casey Affleck.
In 2016, Redford said that “The Old Man & the Gun” and the 2017 romance “Our Souls at Night,” in which he reunited with Jane Fonda, would be his final pair of acting jobs.
But that doesn’t mean he will retire from directing and producing, the indie titan said, “We’ll see about that.”
A representative for Redford confirmed the accuracy of the report.
Redford’s big break came in his 20s when director Mike Nichols cast him as the lead in Neil Simon’s Broadway comedy “Barefoot in the Park.” The 1963 play was a hit and opened the door to more films, including the film adaptation of “Barefoot” opposite Fonda, which made him a popular leading man.