After giving an outstanding performance in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, and grabbing the Academy Awards for the Best Supporting Actor Robert Downey Jr. is all set to work on his new project, The Sympathizer. He is going to portray four different characters in the movie: a director, a congressional representative, a professor, and a CIA operative. This project is going to be one of the most difficult projects that the Iron Man actor has put his hands on.
However, working with Nolan in the 2023 historical drama film, helped RDJ to go nuts with his idea of character development. Susan Downey, the actor’s wife gave an insight into how the Inception director’s intensive character process helped the actor. It allowed him to work on each character’s looks and physicality, making them look different from each other.
Christopher Nolan’s Strict Working Process Aided Robert Downey Jr. in Portraying 4 Different Roles in The Sympathizer
Adapted from the novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen; Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar came up with the exciting idea for the HBO drama. The show features a star-studded cast with Hoa Xuande as a Vietnamese spy named The Captain. However, the main attraction of the drama series will be RDJ, portraying four different characters, piquing the interest of the viewers.
But as exciting as it sounds, transforming into four different roles is not like taking a walk in the park. This would have posed a serious problem to the actor, but thanks to working with Christopher Nolan in Oppenheimer, the book-to-screen adaptation looks quite promising.
As fans would notice, the actor has portrayed roles, who are older and need a different physique than he has naturally. In Nolan’s film, he portrayed Lewis Strauss, and here, he plays four different roles. Susan Downey, the actor’s wife and the show’s executive producer, discussed the intricate process to Cinema Blend. She stated that Nolan did not prefer using prosthetics for Lewis Strauss; and that decision helped Robert Downey Jr. to work on his physicality and his hair.
She said,
“There was a choice, you know. Robert, having just come from working with Nolan, who really stayed far away from prosthetics for Lewis Strauss. That was Robert, he had lost a bunch of weight to change his kind of physicality, he actually shaved his head. [Nolan] really didn’t use it. And so he felt like there was a necessity for a light touch [with The Sympathizer.] However, the difference is [Lewis] was a real person who he really needed to dimensionalize. This one was the perception of The Captain.”
Well, the decision worked in good faith, as everyone was portraying a real person in Oppenheimer, therefore, it was quite important to keep prosthetics to a bare minimum.
Robert Downey Jr. Wanted To Explore New Opportunities Following MCU Exit
Ever since Robert Downey Jr. exited the MCU, he has been looking for new opportunities. The HBO drama series happened to be a challenge for him, and things clicked immediately. The series was premiered in Los Angeles on April 14, where Amanda Burrell shared with The Hollywood Reporter, how the Tropic Thunder actor wanted to do something risky.
The actor’s morale was at an all-time high, following his Oscar-winning role in Oppenheimer, and working on the adaptation would be similar to jumping off the bridge. She said,
“[Team Downey production] really wanted to do something risky, and the risk scared us. How were these characters going to look? But if you aren’t a little scared, I don’t think anything is worth doing, so we kind of jumped off the bridge.”
Moreover, Niv Fichman confessed how Robert Downey Jr. ensured that the multi-character choice is not merely “just a gimmick.”
“[Downey] challenged them, and I’m not going to reveal what they came up with to actually entrench that conceit into the actual character, but it’s revealed in episode seven. So it’s not just a conceit, there’s something that’s very, very visceral and very important and emotionally connected to The Captain’s journey that Robert was the one who challenged them [on] and it’s the big reveal of the show.”
RDJ has surely proved himself to be a prolific actor again, as he proves his star power with his appearance and the ability to turn any project into a success.
The Sympathizer can be streamed on Max.
