Robert Downey Jr. is one of those actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe who have done their onscreen character as much justice as was realistically possible. Considering how renowned he is for being the literal real-life version of his Marvel character Tony Stark, thanks to all the witty personality traits the duo share, it won’t quite come as a surprise if RDJ himself calls his Iron Man performance to be one of his best works to date.
That’s exactly what he has been doing lately after stepping into some different shoes than the ones he wore for so long during his tenure in the MCU: Not only appreciating and commending his work as Stark but also realizing the true potential of the movies he has done after, majorly Oppenheimer.
Robert Downey Jr. Admits Iron Man is one of his Best Works ever
Recently appearing on the Literally! podcast with Rob Lowe, Robert Downey Jr. talked about his experience of stepping out of the superhero genre to jump into other franchises after being in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for more than a decade.
During this, while he appreciated his Iron Man performance to be one of the best works he has done to date and will ever do throughout his career, he also acknowledged the fact that his being in the superhero genre for so long affected the movies he starred in afterward, like Dolittle, for instance.
“I felt so exposed after being in the cocoon of Marvel where I think I did some of the best work I will ever do, but it went a little bit unnoticed because of the genre,” said Downey Jr.
Nonetheless, he also admitted that he had to leave his MCU superhero behind at some point in his career to be able to do other works that equally required his presence, like his performance as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer. As he said:
“I did myself a favor because the rug was pulled so definitively out from underneath me and all the things that I was leaning on as opposed to what my understanding of confidence and security was, boy did they evaporate. And it rendered me teachable.”
Well, they most certainly rendered him “teachable”, considering how not only did his Oppenheimer performance land him with a Golden Globe, but even Robert Downey Jr. himself claimed that the very movie that showed him as the antagonist was the “best film” he has ever been in!
Regardless, Oppenheimer is still Robert Downey Jr.’s “Best Film”
Robert Downey Jr. may have taken some time to appreciate and acknowledge his work in the MCU for a while, but his Oppenheimer fever is still far from down. In fact, at one point, it was so at the peak that he even called the movie “the best film” he had ever gotten the chance to be a part of.
Speaking at the UK Premiere of the Cillian Murphy starrer, he said (via Universal Pictures UK):
“Just going to flat out say it: This is the best film I’ve ever been in, and I cannot wait for you all to experience it.”
He then even explained what Oppenheimer would bring about to the audiences, claiming it was something beyond what they could ever imagine and expect.
