The daughter of Robert Redford wasn’t the best person to be on the day Amy Redford premiered her directorial début, “The Guitar,” at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
“You have to think that some people were questioning whether the film really deserved to be there,” said Amy Redford, the offspring of Robert Redford, the legendary actor who founded the leading organization that presented her independent movie. Amy recently spoke to wowOwow.com about her father and the compelling film she produced and directed — which most definitely deserved its place at Sundance.
“The Guitar” follows the transformation of a woman (played by Saffron Burrows) who in the same day is diagnosed with terminal cancer, fired from her mediocre job and dumped by her selfish boyfriend. Given just a few months to live, she is compelled to change her entire outlook on life. She drops her self-deprecating lifestyle and spends her life savings on renting a fabulous Manhattan loft and buying a ton of expensive items that she’s always wanted. Along the way, she experiments in a ménage à trois and learns to play the electric guitar.
“I hope people can take away the message that you shouldn’t keep deferring your happiness,” Amy said. “Start living your dreams today.”
Click here for photos from “The Guitar.”
Amy, 38, tries to live by this same creed. The director, who shares the same signature red hair as her Oscar-winning dad, has spent several years striving to pave her own path in an industry her father has done so well in. She’s an actress, director and producer, who’s starred in a number of independent films and made guest appearances on hit TV shows including “Sex and the City” and “Law & Order.”
She tells wowOwow that while she doesn’t want to be defined just as Robert Redford’s daughter, she does give dad a lot of credit in serving as one of her role models.
“I would watch my father at work and at home,” she recalls her fun childhood, which was spent mostly in Utah. “I admired the way he would treat people. He would keep his sense of humor and allowed people their dignity. These are skills I use while I’m directing.”
One of the traits she admires the most: “He left work at work,” Amy said as her beautiful baby girl Eden squealed in the background.
“The Guitar” premieres today at the Landmark Sunshine Theater in New York.
