Robert Redford backpedals on his (latest) retirement announcement: "That was a mistake."
Last August, with his announcement that his upcoming film The Old Man And The Gun would be his last, Robert Redford began his journey into the cinematic sunset…only to immediately turn his horse right back around this week.
While Redford has been threatening retirement for years, the 82-year-old actor seemed to have made it official last month with an announcement at an early screening of the film. “I really do feel that it’s time for me to move into retirement,” he had said. “I’ve been doing this since I was 21. I’ve put my soul and heart into it over the years. I thought, ‘That’s enough. Why don’t you quit while you’re a little bit ahead? Don’t wait for the bell to toll. Just get out.’”
But at the New York premiere of The Old Man And The Gun on Thursday night—just a few weeks after that speech—Redford seemed to have had a change of heart (about making his exit quite so formal, at least). “That was a mistake,” he said when asked about the announcement. “I should never have said that. If I’m going to retire,” he explained, “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. I want to be focused on this film and the cast.”