Oscar winning Hollywood legend Robert Redford covers this Sunday’s PARADE and discusses his new film ‘The Conspirator,’ the story of Mary Surratt played brilliantly by Robin Wright Penn, the owner of a Washington boarding house who was implicated in the plot to kill Abraham Lincoln. The director said, “I’m always drawn to stories that people don’t know about, particularly when they’re inside of a story that everyone knows about.” Here’s a sneak peak:
On how America is dealing with environmental issues…
“Sadly, not well. The attempts of the previous administration to do away with all the laws and regulations that were put into place over the last 30 years to protect the people of this country had a devastating effect. They attempted to cynically take out the EPA, to do away with the Bureau of Land Management, to open up everything to gas and oil exploration, which are non-renewable resources. I’ve been involved with the environment for years, and I always will be. People need to wake up. The climate’s changing. Water doesn’t reach its destination anymore. We need to realize that this planet is home to all of us. There’s not a lot one person can do alone, but I will sleep better at night knowing that I did whatever I could.”
On whether President Obama has addressed environmental issues the way Redford hoped he would…
“I’m sympathetic to everything the president has to deal with–the world around us is in chaos. It’s a tough job for anybody. Is he doing as much as he could [for the environment]? No. I think he has not used the political capital he has been given. I think he could do better if some of his advisers weren’t from some of the Old School places. So I’m disappointed, but I think he’s doing okay, better than anybody else would have. What worries me is that our political system is so degenerated that there’s nothing but a war zone. There’s no cooperation, there’s no moderation, there’s no compromise. There is no middle, there’s just a demarcation line. Somebody just doesn’t see the bigger picture, and we’re going to pay.”
For more, click here:
http://www.parade.com/news/2011/04/10-table-of-contents.html