Robert Redford cites the biggest regret of his career

(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)

Sun, November 17, 2024 6:05 p.m., United Kingdom

There’s not much that Robert Redford hasn’t accomplished during his legendary career, which is why it’s perfectly acceptable for the iconic actor and filmmaker to admit that he wasn’t kind of dwelling on the past or regretting things that could have been but never were.

He was one of the most charismatic and dynamic men of the “New Hollywood” era, carrying himself with an innate sense of cool that made him the definition of the old “men want to be him, women want to be” cliché. be with him,” but he was not interested in being typecast as an artist who had only style and no substance.

Redford was only nominated for one Oscar for his acting, but his efforts in front of the camera earned him a Bafta and a Golden Globe. When he tried his hand at directing, he mastered it on the first try in his first feature film Ordinary people earned him the Oscar for “Best Director” and “Best Film”.

His contributions to the overall film landscape speak for themselves having co-founded the Sundance Institute in 1981, and the associated festival remains one of the most notable events on the industry’s calendar and arguably the hub of independent cinema from all over the world. .

That’s without even mentioning the countless classics he’s appeared in, a list that includes Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid And The sting alongside his great friend Paul Newman, in addition to All the President’s Men, The Candidate, Three Days of the Condor, The Natural, Out of Africaand more.

Redford once said, literally, “I have no regrets because I did everything I could to the best of my ability.” » On a personal level, the moment that affected him the most was the death of his mother before he could see his son become an international superstar, admitting that “my regret is that she died before I could thank her » after his death when he was only 30 years old. 18 years old.

This might give the impression that there is nothing in his professional life that he would remember. This is true to a point, which makes it all the more ironic that Redford’s biggest career regret was going public and confirming that it was ending after making the film by David Lowery. The old man and the gun.

“I think it was a mistake to say I was retiring because you never know,” he said. People. “I felt like maybe it was time to focus on another category. I shouldn’t have said that because it distracts from the film. This actually turned out to be quite prophetic because The old man and the gun was not Redford’s final credit.

His last live-action role came when he made an appearance in Marvel’s Avengers: Endgameand he narrated the fantasy comedy-drama Buttonsreleased less than three months after his “last” film. Oddly, unless something drastic changes, the final entry in Redford’s filmography will be the role of Lokia The Dolphin Monster, a character he voiced in the 2020 animated anthology film. Omniboat: a fast boat fantasy.

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