Robert Downey Jr. eyes the Primetime Emmy next after his Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor for Oppenheimer. Downey Jr. plays not one but four roles in the new HBO series, The Sympathizer. While the Dolittle actor surprised fans with his different looks in the trailer of the series, fans were not ready for one scene in the third episode. In this scene, Downey Jr. brought out all four characters in a single sequence, and Sandra Oh hijacked an interview to hear all about it.
The Iron Man actor’s four characters represent different aspects of the American establishment. These characters include CIA agent Claude, Professor Hammer, auteur filmmaker Niko, and Southern California congressman Ned Godwin.
Robert Downey Jr.’s One Scene In The Sympathizer Was Challenging To Shoot
In the episode Love It or Leave It of The Sympathizer, Robert Downey Jr. played all four of his characters in a single sequence inside a steakhouse. His co-star, Hoa Xuande, who plays The Captain, recalled the challenging shoot that lasted three days in a roundtable with Cinemablend. In the scene, Xuande’s character meets up with the four people who made an impact on his life at the steakhouse.
The scene was a nightmare to shoot, obviously, given Robert Downey Jr. had to change his looks frequently for the scene. Xuande recalled how he would wait around in the booth for Downey Jr. to get ready for his character. The series also used body doubles, but the Sherlock Holmes actor had to deliver the lines differently for each character.
Once he was done with one character, it took him two hours to dress down and another two hours to dress up for the next character. Xuande told Cinemablend:
“I would be in the booth, looking at the body doubles and listening to the first AD deliver those lines, but then listening to Robert doing the character that he was in for that day delivering his lines. Then, you know, he would get out of the chair, do a two-hour dress down and another two-hour dress up for his next character, and sit in his next character’s spot. And then we repeat the process.”
From Xuande’s point of view, he was completely perplexed by his co-star’s different characters and how each of them delivered the lines. He shared:
“And it was just such a mindfuck, you know, so to speak. Because when you have your first AD reading these lines, it’s just these lines, but when you see Robert and the way he comes alive, he’s got his thing.”
The character Claude is a mentor to the Captain, while Professor Hammer is his Orientalist grad school professor. The auteur filmmaker Niko makes a film based on the Vietnam War, while Congressman Ned tries to appeal to the local Vietnamese American population. All four of these characters appearing in the same sequence was a technical and storytelling brilliance from Park Chan-wook.
Sandra Oh Took Over The Interview To Learn More About Robert Downey Jr.’s Performance
Sandra Oh, who appeared alongside Xuande, had a lot more questions about how the scene was executed. She followed up the host’s question on the scene with her own questions. She asked, “So when you guys started, did you rehearse all of it? Who did you start with?” Xuande shared that they started with Claude, the character that he felt most comfortable with.
The conversation went on for a little bit more, where Xuande shared that he often got lost trying to keep up with Downey Jr.’s characters during rehearsal. He found himself with the question, “Hang on, who am I talking to this time and where?” By the time the internal conversation between The Sympathizer actors ended, Sandra Oh had only words of praise for Downey Jr. She shared with Cinemablend:
“But he’s like, so skilled. And so loose. You know, it’s it’s amazing. It’s really amazing to watch.”
The Sympathizer is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Park Chan-wook, the showrunner of the series, shared that the Tropic Thunder actor improvised a significant portion of his performance (via THR). Downey Jr. even shaved his head for the role to save time on using a bald cap.
The first three episodes of The Sympathizer are now available for streaming on Max. The next episode will be released on May 5, 2024.
