Robert Redford is retiring from acting, with his newest movie, The Old Man & the Gun, being his last.
The 81-year-old actor, who also starred in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, stated back in 2016 that he would be retiring soon, and now makes good on his promise.
“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,” Robert Redford filled in EW.com. “I thought, Well, that’s enough. And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?”
Robert Redford noted it was the “framework” and the story in The Old Man & the Gun that helped him to make a decision on his retirement, which sees him playing Forrest Tucker, the real-life career criminal in love with his self-appointed job of robbing banks and breaking out of prison.
“To me, that was a wonderful character to play at this point in my life,” the Oscar winner 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?”
In addition to starring in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which saw him play Alexander Pierce, Redford is known for a plethora of roles including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, A River Runs Through It, Indecent Proposal, All the President’s Men and lots more.
You can watch Robert Redford one last time when The Old Man & the Gun hits theaters on September 28, 2018 directed by David Lowery and also starring Casey Affleck, Sissy Spacek, Danny Glover, Tom Waits and Tika Sumpter.