Robert Redford wanted his final film to be "uplifting".
The 82-year-old screen legend recently confirmed ‘The Old Man and the Gun’ – a comedy drama about "gentleman" bank robber Forrest Tucker, who escaped from prison 18 times and was still committing crimes in his seventies – will be his final work as an actor and he admitted it felt like the "right" project to end his career on because it’s such a great story.
He said: "This feels like the right film to go out on as an actor because the film I had done before that – ‘Our Souls At Night’ – I was very proud of but it was very serious, kind of a heavy lift, a dramatic love story with Jane Fonda. It was a wonderful film to work on but it was very sad so I wanted the last film I act in to be uplifting.
"It’s an incredible, bizarre story because it’s true. This guy really did exist, he really did rob banks, he really had a good time, he never hurt anybody, he was always smiling, enjoying it, getting put in prison, escaping from prison, getting put back in prison, escaping again. Back and forth, back and forth."
But the ‘Sting’ actor – who married Sibylle Szaggars in 2009 and has three adult children with his first wife Lola Van Wagenen – admitted it is possible he’ll change his mind about retiring in the future and even if he doesn’t, he’s not stepping away from the movie industry completely.
Asked if he’s really retiring, he told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "Well, never say never. You have to be careful about being too final because sometimes you have to change your mind. But I feel this is the right time to go out as an actor, because I’ve been doing this since I was 21 and that’s a long time. So it’s just a question of moving on to something else, which would be directing and producing."
As well as directing and producing, Robert is also looking forward to indulging his passion for hiking.
He said: "I love the idea of mountains; I love being in them and I love the comfort of them.
"So I have Sundance [his 5,000 acre ranch in Utah] and I have [a home in] Santa Fe and mountains exist in both those places.
"If you just take time to take a walk in nature and recognise there’s another language that nature has, I think that’s valuable.
"As you get older life becomes more exciting because you’re aware of more possibilities if you’re willing to go there. As long as I can ride a horse and as long as I can hike, I’ll be happy."
Robert Redford wanted positive end to acting career
