Following Robert Downey Jr.’s Oscar win for Oppenheimer, new doors of opportunities opened for the actor. Starring in another prestige project, that came as one of his most challenging performances yet, Downey Jr. appeared in a supporting role in the recently released HBO series, The Sympathizer.
Based on the acclaimed book by Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer stars Robert Downey Jr. in four different roles: a director, a congressional representative, a professor, and a CIA operative. While this came as a true challenge for the Iron Man star, the show creator revealed why the actor was booked to play four different roles.
The Sympathizer Creators Explained the Curious Casting of Robert Downey Jr.
Adapted from the novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen; Park Chan-wook, and Don McKellar came up with the brilliant idea for their recently released HBO show The Sympathizer. Starring Hoa Xuande as a Vietnamese spy named The Captain, the show had its Los Angeles premiere on April 14.
While the HBO series happens to be a historical black comedy-drama series, the main attraction of it seems to be Oscar-winning star Robert Downey Jr. Appearing alongside the likes of Kieu Chinh, Sandra Oh, and others, Downey Jr. played four different roles of a director, a congressional representative, a professor, and a CIA operative, in the project.
According to creators Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, Robert Downey Jr.’s casting happens to be a curious decision. Speaking with THR, the creators as well as the producers of The Sympathizer, noted why they wanted one actor to play four different roles, and why was it specifically Downey Jr.?
“Even though each of the characters from all of the four have different occupations and they might have different characteristics, in essence, it was very important they were faces that represent America. So in order to convey this idea very clearly and directly, I came to the conclusion that I’d have one actor portray all these different characters so that audiences can understand clearly.” Chan-wook shared.
Willing to have different characteristics but not extremely different, Don McKellar noted how they “wanted to see the man underneath” because the characters are “all connected in some way”.
Robert Downey Jr. Wanted to Explore the Challenging Side of Hollywood
While it’s clear why Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar wanted one particular actor to play four different roles, it seems curious why they booked Robert Downey Jr. for the roles. Well, it seems The Sympathizer and the Iron Man actor are a match made in heaven. Since Downey Jr. wanted to explore new opportunities and the HBO show happened to have a challenge for him, things clicked immediately.
During the same premiere, while speaking with THR, producer Amanda Burrell disclosed how Robert Downey Jr. wanted to do something risky, following his Oscar-winning role in Oppenheimer, and since the prestigious project The Sympathizer had a challenging take, they all “jumped off the bridge” for it.
“[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.”
Thereafter, executive producer Niv Fichman confessed that ahead of taking on the role, Robert Downey Jr. and the producers wanted to make sure the multi-character choice wasn’t “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.”
Downey Jr. has certainly proved himself to be a prolific actor, who enhances a production with his appearance and turns the project into a success, with his star power. Therefore, we believe this mysterious miniseries will also be a notable example of Robert Downey Jr’s brilliance.
The Sympathizer is available on Max. New episodes air each Sunday night.
