Robert Downey Jr. is making his way back to the silver screen with Christopher Nolan’s biographical drama Oppenheimer. He shared that he was taking a break from acting when he came around the project and accepted the offer after learning that it was a Nolan film. While he is popularly known for starring as the Marvel superhero Iron Man in the MCU, and the Oppenheimer director also believes that it was one of the greatest castings ever, his portrayal of Lewis Strauss has also received high praise.
However, despite being one of the best actors in the industry, there have been times when he was not able to give his best. During his recent interview with Vanity Fair, Downey Jr opened up about the time when he took multiple takes to get done with one scene.
Robert Downey Jr. Pissed Off Film Crew With Multiple Takes
Robert Downey Jr. starred alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and his MCU co-star Mark Ruffalo in the 2007 mystery thriller Zodiac. Directed by David Fincher, the movie follows cartoonist Robert Graysmith as he gets obsessed with the Zodiac killer and tries to find him with his puzzle-solving techniques.
Talking about the movie in a recent conversation with Vanity Fair, the 58-year-old actor shared that Fincher was very serious about his movies. And filming one of the scenes of the film took more than 50 takes, just to get it right.
“There was a scene where he was trying to get it done in one shot, and we had to have done 40 or 50 takes,” he said before adding, “And people were a little bit exasperated.” Downey Jr. shared that the director suggested deleting all the previous takes and starting filming again after lunch.
The Iron Man star shared that everyone at the set looked at him and went, “What the f**k is wrong…” However, the actor does agree that there was a reason behind the director’s decision as he said, “Right is right.” Downey Jr. portrayed the true crime reporter Paul Avery in Zodiac, and the 2007 mystery film is considered one of the best films of his career.
Christopher Nolan on Robert Downey Jr’s Marvel Casting
Iron Man is not only one of the best characters in the MCU but also one of the best characters of Robert Downey Jr.’s career. The actor has gained worldwide recognition, playing the role for over a decade in multiple films.
While Jon Favreau ended up directing the movie and Downey Jr. portrayed its lead character, the movie went through several actors before officially going into production with the Tropic Thunder star. And not only the fans all around the world but the renowned director Christopher Nolan also believes that it was the perfect casting.
“When Favreau had the insight to cast him as Iron Man, it’s one of the greatest casting decisions in the history of movies,” Nolan said during his appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. And with his performance in Oppenheimer, the actor has again proof that he is no doubt one of the best actors in Hollywood.
Oppenheimer is playing in theatres.
Zodiac is available on Prime Video.
Source: Vanity Fair
