Acting may end for Robert Redford, but his creation will endure.
Despite being awarded the Medal of Freedom in November by President Barrack Obama (who said The Candidate was the best political movie ever made), Robert Redford says his acting days will come to an end after another two films.
The celebrated actor and director, who turned 80 last August, told the Walker Art Center during a retrospective of his work that he is involved in two film projects. In Our Souls at Night, a love story “for older people who get a second chance in life,” he stars opposite Jane Fonda. She, of course, was also his costar in his 1967 breakout film Barefoot in the Park—about two young people starting out in life.
In the second film, Old Man with a Gun, Redford will costar with Casey Affleck, a young actor on an upward arc as an Oscar favorite for his role in Manchester by the Sea.
The irony of the two final projects can’t be lost on Redford, who says, “Once they’re done then I’m going to say, ‘Okay, that’s goodbye to all that,’ and then just focus on directing.”
Whether that really happens or not, one of Redford’s most enduring creative impulses, the Sundance Film Festival, will continue with his help to support and screen some of the most creative and meaningful cinema in the art form’s history.
by Christie Marcy
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