Robert Redford Reveals He Never Should Have Said He Is Retiring: 'That Was a Mistake'
Robert Redford regrets saying he is retiring from Hollywood.
“I think it was a mistake to say that I was retiring because you never know,” the iconic actor told PEOPLE at the New York premiere of The Old Man & the Gun on Thursday.
“It did feel like it was time maybe, to concentrate on another category.”
The 82-year-old actor admitted that he never should have said that his last film would be upcoming FOX Searchlight crime-comedy.
“I shouldn’t have said that because it draws attention away from the film.”
In August, the actor told Entertainment Weekly that he would be retiring after wrapping production on the movie.
“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,” Redford explained to EW.
“I thought, ‘Well, that’s enough.’ And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?”
RELATED: Watch Robert Redford and Jane Fonda Look Back Over a ‘Friendship That Has Gone Almost 50 Years’
Redford made his Broadway debut in 1959 in Tall Story and hit the small screen with various roles in 1960.
In the illustrious career that has followed, Redford has earned two Oscars, six Golden Globes, and one BAFTA, among several other accolades. He has starred in dozens of films, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, The Great Gatsby, All the President’s Men, and Out of Africa.
RELATED VIDEO: Jane Fonda Admits to Still Swooning Over 4-Time Co-Star Robert Redford: ‘I Fall Into His Eyes’
He has also directed critically-acclaimed movies like A River Runs Through It and Ordinary People, and he founded the Sundance Institute.
The Old Man & the Gun, which also stars Casey Affleck, Sissy Spacek, Danny Glover, Tika Sumpter, and Tom Waits, hits theaters on Sept. 28.
