I'd like to have all the money I thought I'd make from this movie. I wouldn't be working at Walmart right now. And I'm struggling really hard to make ends meet.
After Deliverance, Redden was cast in Lamberto Bava's 1984 film Blastfighter. The film was recorded in and around Clayton and many people recall it as a mixture of Deliverance and First Blood.
Redden next appeared in Tim Burton's 2003 film Big Fish. Burton was intent on getting Redden, as he wanted him to play the role of a banjo-playing "welcomer" in the utopian town of Spectre. Burton located Redden in Clayton, Georgia, where he was part-owner of the Cookie Jar Café, and also worked as a cook and dishwasher.
In 2004, Redden made a guest appearance on Blue Collar TV, playing a car repairman named Ray in a "Redneck Dictionary" skit. He represented the word "raisin bread" (as in "Ray's inbred"). He played a banjo in the skit.
In 2009, Redden played again his usual role (The banjo man) in Ace Cruz's film Outrage: Born in Terror.
In 2012, 40 years after the release of Deliverance, Redden was interviewed in association with a documentary, The Deliverance of Rabun County (2012). It explored the feelings of people in Rabun County four decades later about the 1972 film. Redden said that though Deliverance was the best thing that happened to him, he never saw much money from the movie:
