Robert Downey Jr. enjoyed quite a celebrated career after starring as Tony Stark aka Iron Man in the MCU. The role brought him back from a brief controversial space and pushed him to worldwide stardom. But after his reign as the Millionaire Marvel superhero ended with Avengers: Endgame, the actor was shocked by a big box office flop before finally getting a role in Christopher Nolan’s next.
The much-awaited Oppenheimer is one of the biggest upcoming movies having some of the biggest names from the industry in its ensemble. The Marvel fame recently stated that he didn’t think twice before signing the Nolan drama following the 2020 disaster, Dolittle.
How did Robert Downey Jr. join Oppenheimer?
Following his MCU departure with Avengers: Endgame, Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Dr. John Dolittle in 2020’s Dolittle. The movie broke the hit trend of the Sherlock Holmes actor and was both a critical as well as commercial disaster.
But it didn’t take long for the 58-year-old star to recover and he got a role in the grand Christopher Nolan drama. Recently, while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, The Avengers fame stated that he didn’t think twice when Nolan approached him for the role of Lewis Strauss.
“I was like, ‘Wow.’ And he was like, ‘So will you do it?’ I was like ‘Uh, usually, there’s 38 phone calls.’ But he’s Chris Nolan. So I was like, ‘Yeah, I think I will.’”
After Robert Downey Jr. went to Nolan’s L.A. house to read the script, there was no looking back for the Chaplin actor. But later, across several interviews, Downey Jr. also praised Dolittle as a very important movie in his career. It taught him to pick his projects more carefully in the future.
“After that point — what’s that phrase? Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
Adding more to his experience of starring in the Christopher Nolan war drama, the Oscar-nominee also called his upcoming as the best movie of his career.
Robert Downey Jr. on his role in Oppenheimer
The role of Lewis Strauss played by Robert Downey Jr. in the Cillian Murphy movie is based on the American businessman and the former chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. It is one of the most significant characters in the movie and the Zodiac star didn’t hesitate to call it the best movie in his career.
“Just going to flat out say it: This is the best film I’ve ever been in. I cannot wait for you all to experience it.”
Robert Downey Jr. also praised Oppenheimer as the ideal summer blockbuster- “This is what a summer blockbuster, when I was growing up, used to be.”
The movie is based on the Father of the Atomic Bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and will be released alongside another multistarrer, Barbie. Besides the huge scale and no usage of CGI, the movie also raised headlines after the cast of the movie walked out of the London premiere to support the actors’ strike. With all the hype surrounding the movie, it will be interesting to see if Oppenheimer can turn out to be one of the greatest movies of all time.
Oppenheimer will be released on July 21, 2023.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
