The two-time Oscar nominee, Robert Downey Jr., has seen his fair share of highs and lows. The hugely successful The Avengers series, in which he portrayed billionaire superhero Tony Stark (also known as Iron Man) to great acclaim, has contributed significantly to his surge in demand. Thus, it won’t be wrong to say that his career has been greatly boosted by the Marvel superhero Iron Man.
But given how big and unpredictable the film industry can be, we also have to admit that sometimes even the most promising collaborations can end in disappointment. In 2006, the adult animated sci-fi thriller A Scanner Darkly starred Downey Jr. and Keanu Reeves, two megastars of Hollywood. Unfortunately, the film failed to connect with audiences, even with a star-studded cast and a compelling storyline adapted from Philip K. Dick’s novel of the same name. As a result, the box office loss was $1,000,000.
Robert Downey Jr. Explained Why He Chose A Scanner Darkly
During the MovieWeb 2006 interview, Robert Downey Jr. shared his insights on A Scanner Darkly. The actor, 58, was fairly candid and seemed to be having a good time. Recalling director Richard Linklater’s previous film, School of Rock, he expressed his excitement about the Keanu Reeves-starrer film and his desire to work on it.
According to Downey Jr., Linklater’s classroom comedy, School of Rock, was released three years before the release of A Scanner Darkly. The $131.3 million film starred Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White, and Sarah Silverman in significant roles.
To quote the Iron Man actor:
“I saw ‘School of Rock,’ and I was like, why haven’t I worked with Richard Linklater already? Then by the time I got him, I was like, I’m really pissed off. I feel like you owe me some retroactive swag. He gave me the 10-year anniversary ‘Dazed and Confused’ t-shirt, which I still wear with relish.”
With a $35 million budget, Paramount Pictures’ School of Rock grossed $131 million worldwide.
How It Was For Robert Downey Jr. To Collaborate With Keanu Reeves?
A Scanner Darkly tackled serious issues of addiction and cunning government plots. The film explored identity and deception in a near-future dystopia with a drug epidemic and widespread high-tech police surveillance. The entire movie exuded a sense of paranoia and panic.
Among these undercover agents was Keanu Reeves’ character Bob Arctor, who has the mission of breaking into the drug trade and becoming actively involved in its underground. In a 2006 MovieWeb interview, Robert Downey Jr. talked about his reaction when he got the script, which he read at a “chateau”. He recalled his “great experience”:
“I got a call, I read the script, and I thought, this is nuts, this is going to be cool. And Keanu was playing the lead, so I went to the chateau, and we just started to have this spitball session. We talked about the characters and all that. And Woody, and Winona, it was just a great experience for me.”
The Sherlock Holmes star also revealed that he took on the role because Richard Linklater was the director:
“It would have had to be someone real special, and I am convinced that he is one of our great American directors.”
An interpolated rotoscope was used to animate the digitally shot film, giving it a unique animated appearance that could be used in both live-action and animated movies. Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Keanu Reeves were among the prominent cast members.
Both its animation and performances were well received. However, it ultimately failed to recover its $8.7 million production cost by roughly $1 million.
A Scanner Darkly is streaming on Tubi TV.
