Robert Redford: "If I'm a star, it's almost reluctantly"

Only headliner of " All is lost" , he plays a sailor in the boat was damaged at sea At 77 , Robert Redford would he bid farewell to cinema? Response .

It is a dream of actor : hold the screen alone for one hundred and six minutes , with, for any dialogue , one word ! " Shit " In " All Is Lost" , the new flm , exciting, J. C. Chandor (after "Margin Call" ), Robert Redford plays the role of a sailor whose sailboat, spurred by a container drifting , flowing slowly . Private contact , facing the storm, without food and water , the hero (which we will not know the name or the past) trying to survive . At 77 , Redford embodies , more than ever, man alone against all the lonely facing . In his life he has never played the game of celebrity. In his career, he has always chosen precisely the roles that suited him from " Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid " to " the Man Whisperer horses ." Democrat, green activist , he created an anti- hollywodien village Sundance . Basically, as he says, he is a star reluctantly .

" All Is Lost " is a one-man show: you are alone on the screen all the time . This is your way of putting an end to your career?
Robert Redford. Not at all ! I know, I know , it looks like a farewell ! It is not at all in my way! What interests me is to keep moving forward. Thus, since " All Is Lost" , I turned in "Captain America . Winter Soldier " , and I am preparing another role ... I 'm on the road , and I continue to walk .

However, this is a very different film : no dialogue , only one character ...
The project appealed to me immediately. Despite the difficulties. For rotate at sea is a nightmare : the light is constantly changing, the surface of the water changes , it is always to thank you from the weather . Besides we have wet feet. But when it claims to be an actor , one must be able to play under any circumstances. Even with wet feet.



Carry a film on his shoulders, is not it risky?
If , of course. But how could I refuse ? Alone , facing the audience ? There is not an actor in the world who refuse. In addition , a single word of dialogue to memorize : " Shit ." The cake.

It's almost the perfect movie ...
Exactly . In the 1920s , the filmmakers sought " pure cinema." Some thought it was fitting that prevailed . Others that it was the movement. Others framing. Finally it is a little everything. " All Is Lost" is not based on any current stuff : no special effects , no accelerated editing , just simple film, which communicates directly with the viewer. The emotion comes from. I love it. For the actor , there is only a slogan . Be present. Each plan must be penetrated by your presence. From the beginning, the character is facing the elements, and it never stops : the boat is taking on water , the storm comes, the food is scarce , water shortage , the wind is contrary ... This character , which we know nothing , has no time to think about anything but survival. The role is reduced to this: live . The challenge for me was to give a thickness to this character , never provide biographical information .

How to define this experience?
Serenity and violence. As the sea

Or mountains. As your 1969 film , " the infernal descent " ...

Yes. But , strangely, I thought rather another movie, " Jeremiah Johnson" . Again, this is the story of one man facing the elements: forest , snow , solitude, survival. There is a parallel between the two films at forty distance .

" Jeremiah Johnson" is one of your favorite movies ...
I like it a lot . I wanted to talk a little known American history , before the era of cowboys chapter. It is a film that I really wanted , and I asked Sydney Pollack to stage . I shot him with " No Trespassing " in 1966. And in 1972 , he wanted to do it, " Our best years ." I managed to convince him to put " Jeremiah Johnson" before . And finally, we made two films.

The beginning of a beautiful friendship ...
Yes. We then turned the " Three Days of the Condor " and "The Electric Horseman " and "Out of Africa " and " Havana" ... We could continue our momentum , if it was not overshadowed . But it's " Jeremiah Johnson" that started it all .

In what sense?
So that the film is less expensive , I bought the land in Utah . It was the beginning of something : the idea of ​​preserving a virgin land , to be responsible in terms of ecology.

The idea of survival, it is something that is important to you .
Yes. In a situation like " All Is Lost" , some throw in the towel. Others continue to fight. It is this balance that interests me.