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At the time the classic Newman-Redford pairing first premiered, the top cast listing included Newman, Ross, and Redford. Today, the order has shifted—currently it reads Newman, Redford, then Ross. The actor, the Sundance Kid, has become one of the hottest new box office properties since Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. Yet, despite his success, he remains largely indifferent.

Rejecting the Studio System

“I don’t consider myself,” he says determinedly, “a Hollywood man. Do you remember that figure who appears William Saroyan’s a classic drama, who says, ‘Everything’s unstable—all down the line’? That’s, that’s what I feel regarding the film industry. It’s impossible to manage an art form like a business any more, and they’re still trying to do just that. Films to them are just like vacuum cleaners or refrigerators. It disgusts me.”

Challenges Behind the Scenes

Of course, we have heard similar things in Hollywood. However, Redford, speaking softly, seemingly puzzled why anyone should want to interview him, seems truly committed. One of the main reasons is that he invested years into making his skiing project and found that taking on studios proved more difficult than making a difficult movie.

The film, still unreleased in the UK, in spite of the fact early screenings occurred last year, debuted in the US garnering responses that indicate it’s considerably more than a skiing spectacular. “In fact,” says Redford, “it is about athletics and athletes. That’s why I prefer its debut here in Britain is because this is not a skiing country. It’s more likely that it will be appreciated as a portrayal of character depth instead of a certain kind of sport.”

“They wanted to premiere it in Austria, showing it to all the experts. In truth… my project where a US athlete getting an Olympic gold in the downhill event. Isn’t that thrill them? Goodness, provided that I’m not there. It would be brutal.”

Why This Sport?

“Why downhill racing? I believe an ideal mix of poetry and danger, the best way through which to show what sport sometimes does to men. You have to be a kind of kamikaze pilot to do it at all. After experiencing it, it changes you forever.”

“Imagine aging skiers lingering around the boys doing it now. They are pathetic. Restless constantly. Nervous habits show nonstop. They’re worn out. Sport can be brutal, for pros and amateurs alike. It might train you only for the wrong things, or destroys you completely.”

A Competitive History

Redford should know, he was once a first-class American football and baseball player, and could well have made a name on the court as well. “Goodness, I despised losing,” he says, “eventually I reached a point I had to stop, regardless of outcome. My focus shifted at the guy over the net and wonder—well, his attire is messy. That shoe will harm his foot by the end of the set, but he’s oblivious on winning he doesn’t notice. I’d also see a person in the crowd, wondering: ‘What the hell is he thinking at this moment? Is my game acting out his dreams?, competing for him? By which time the game was gone!’”

A Secret Love: Painting

An earlier interest, maybe his true calling, involved brushes. He wandered across Europe for more than a year back then, meeting bohemian crowds, both genuine and not. He became broke in that beautiful city, who introduced him who arranged displaying his paintings covering getting back to the US. When he got back, his restlessness took over. Acting became his path, starting in theater, followed by screen, and then movies.

Projects like Daisy Clover, Barefoot in the Park, a Polonski film, the western, the skiing movie were released rapidly. Next is a motorcycle film, depicting speed and rivalry alongside Pollard. After that, possibly a movie on latter-day rodeo riding. Athletics seems to staying with him for a while longer.

What of his art? A pause follows. “Well,” he says, “I haven’t done it recently. That’s the reason I want to pause from filming and resume. But can you really start again? I doubt it. It demands seriousness, you see. It requires your entire focus. That said, being here in London has amazed me in this respect. I feel compelled to pick up a brush.”

“Look at the light across the city. It’s stunning. Each dawn during my stay I’ve got up early strolling with my mouth open. Unprecedented anything like it. I’ll be back someday. If the film premieres—if it ever does.”

Newman’s Savvy

“If only I were as clever as Paul Newman. He’d manage that my project wasn’t mishandled like this. Take Rachel, Rachel? “Indeed. However, Newman can’t constantly defy the industry.”