Robert Redford retires from acting

Robert Redford, 81, is stepping away from acting now his final movie, 'The Old Man & The Gun', is complete

The 81-year-old actor announced two years ago he was planning to stop working after finishing his remaining projects, and now his final movie, 'The Old Man & The Gun' is just a month away from being released, he thinks its the right film to end his six-decade career on.

He said: "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. I thought, Well, that's enough. And why not go out with something that's very upbeat and positive?"

Though the 'Ordinary People' filmmaker previously said he'd focus on directing when he stopped acting, he doesn't seem so sure now.

Discussing the possibility, he told Entertainment Weekly magazine: "We'll see about that."

In 'The Old Man & The Gun', the screen legend plays Forrest Tucker, a real-life criminal who robbed banks and broke out of prison multiple times, and Redford was fascinated by the "wonderful character".

He said: "To me, that was a wonderful character to play at this point in my life.

"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?"

The 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' star previously admitted he was "getting tired" of acting and wanted to step back after finishing 'The Old Man & The Gun' and 'Our Souls at Night', which was released last year.

He said: "I'm getting tired of acting. I'm an impatient person, so it's hard for me to sit around and do take after take after take.

"At this point in my life, age 80, it'd give me more satisfaction because I'm not dependent on anybody. It's just me, just the way it used to be, and so going back to sketching--that's sort of where my head is right now. So, I'm thinking of moving in that direction and not acting so much.

"[After my last projects have wrapped] I'm going to say, 'OK, that's goodbye to all that,' and then just focus on directing."

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