Hollywood legend Robert Redford announced earlier this year that the new film The Old Man And The Gun would be his final movie performance. The icon claimed that he'd essentially accomplished all that he'd ever thought about doing, and now seemed like a good time to stop. That's great for Redford, but it also means that now there's an entire generation of actors and directors who'll never get a chance to collaborate with Bob, the way that casts were able to on recent movies like Pete's Dragon, Truth, A Walk in the Woods and, of course, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. So when CinemaBlend had the chance to sit down with The Old Man And The Gun co-stars Casey Affleck and Tika Sumpter, we asked them what it was like shooting with the icon, and they told us:
Tika Sumpter: For me, literally, we had the scene in the diner, and that's the only scene that I'm in with him. So then I had to go and stalk him in this trailer and tell him how much he meant to me. And then I had to bring my baby to set, and he like lit up and was all 'Oh my God!' So that was the amount of time I spent with him.Casey Affleck: I had a couple of scenes with him. But a little bit of time goes a long way, I think, with Bob.Sumpter: There's this one time that we were all in the diner sitting there, and it was like [Casey] and Robert and Sissy, and all of these Academy Award winners and nominees. I was just looking like, 'Oh my God, I get to be in this film!' It was just really, really cool to watch them just be chill, and be human beings.
Critics who have been able to see The Old Man and the Gun call it the ideal swan-song project for Robert Redford. He's cast as a former bank robber who springs himself from San Quentin and goes on one last spree, charming the public with his exploits. Casey Affleck plays Detective John Hunt, the man tasked with stopping Redford's latest plan, and the two men share a significant scene together late in the movie. We asked Affleck about the shooting of that scene, but it's a little spoilery, so only click below if you want to hear a few details:
David Lowery's The Old Man and the Gun made a few key stop on the fall film festival circuit, and it's now making its way into more theaters after a limited release. There's a good chance that it's playing by you now, so seek it out, and see Robert Redford on the biggest screen possible, at least one more time.
