The outspoken liberal activist says he was skeptical at first. "To be honest, I had a few reservations about going to Washington, D.C., as you can probably understand. But it's hard to turn down the chance to be onstage with people like Tony Bennett, Tina Turner, Suzanne Farrell and the magnificent Julie Harris."

He was also able to tour the White House with his family. "I got to sit in Thomas Jefferson's seat. That, alone, made it worthwhile."

Meanwhile, Redford has been been reviving his sometimes-dormant film career. He's already provided one of the voices (of Ike the Horse) for a live-action (with computer-graphic enhancements) version of "Charlotte's Web," and he's scheduled to play legendary baseball manager/executive Branch Rickey in a film about Jackie Robinson. He's also planning to direct and star in "Aloft," a drama about the plight of the North American peregrine falcon, which could reunite Redford with his pal Paul Newman (they co-starred in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Sting").

Asked about rumors that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck may be remaking "Butch Cassidy," Redford said he finds that "depressing."

"There is no shortage of good, original ideas, and there's just no point to remakes. Why do they have to mess with things that were perfect the first time around?" he said with a groan.

The 2006 Sundance Film Festival will run through Jan. 29 at various venues in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and the Sundance resort. For ticket information, call 801-326-2000 or 435-940-8900 or go to www.sundance.org.

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com