Robert Redford regrets announcing his retirement from acting.
Oscar winner Robert Redford may not be ready to make his retreat from Hollywood quite yet, with the 81-year-old backtracking on his statement in August that he would retire from acting following his upcoming film The Old Man & the Gun.
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“That was a mistake. I should never have said that,” Redford told Variety at the premiere of the Fox Searchlight crime-comedy.
While Redford declined to answer whether or not The Old Man & the Gun would be his final film, stating that he’ll “keep the mystery alive,” he did claim that should he retire, doing so quietly would be more appropriate.
“If I’m going to retire, I should just slip quietly away from acting, but I shouldn’t be talking about it because I think it draws too much attention in the wrong way,” he said. “I want to be focused on this film and the cast.”
In August, the legendary actor told Entertainment Weekly that he planned to retire after production wrapped on the movie, in which he plays Forrest Tucker, the real-life criminal in love with his lifestyle of robbing banks and breaking out of prison.
“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. I thought, Well, that’s enough. And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?” Redford said, adding that the “framework” of his latest project helped bring him to the decision.
“To me, that was a wonderful character to play at this point in my life,” Redford said. “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. 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?”
Should Redford choose to retire following The Old Man & the Gun, he will be making his exit from Hollywood with an award-winning career that has spanned decades.
After making his Broadway debut in 1959 in Tall Story, Redford transitioned to the small screen just a year later, when he made guest appearances on Maverick and Perry Mason, among many others. His career has earned him two Oscars, six Golden Globes, and one BAFTA, along with several more accolades.
