I’m writing this (began drafting it last Friday) with the presumption he’s going to win an Oscar this weekend… but I won’t publish it until it happens. Wouldn’t want to jinx myself.
——
This has been said about Robert Downey Jr. a number of times in the past decade or two. His redemption arc is the classic Hollywood story. Him winning an Oscar after all he’d gone through, if I should be so bold to say so, all but guarantees that a movie will be made about his life and this Oscar win will be the grand finale.
Mind you, I’m not making all of this up just to fangirl about my favorite actor and fangasm (a word I got from him, by the way) about the possibilities this presents. It’s just, in true Hollywood fashion, it only makes sense. Everyone loves an underdog overcoming adversity and making the most epic comeback possible.
It’d also be cool if he took a page from Andrew McCarthy’s book and penned an autobiography of his own after finally getting this win. I’d be first in line to buy it.
Potential issues, complications and drawbacks
aka- the Devil's Advocate section
The big downside is that this movie would come with a few complications. Not simply limited to licensing issues, which are sure to happen depending on how many footage is taken from the Marvel movies.
First off, this will undoubtedly focus HEAVILY on his addictions and criminal history. All of the things I don’t want to focus on when I talk about him. He’d slayed all those demons nearly two decades ago so, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no point on focusing on it anymore.
Unfortunately that is a huge chunk of his life so of course it needs to be part of his story. His first joint (courtesy of Downey Sr.) when he was 8-9, the “method acting” while preparing to shoot Less than Zero, up through the 90s where he was in and out of rehab at least 2-3 times. The most significant part of this arc being the court tv moment where the judge sends him to Corcoran for jail time, reasoning “this just might save your life.” I don’t know for sure if that was also the same day Robert compared his addiction to black tar heroin as “it’s like having a gun in my mouth and I like the taste of gun metal.”
One final rehab stint happened during his time on Ally McBeal. His soon-to-be wife Susan had also said in one article she had faced with that darkness in him once (I forget the metaphor she used, probably Darth Vader) and she gave him an ultimatum. After which he threw his drugs in the ocean and he’d been clean ever since.
I am paraphrasing a bit here. I do have the article saved somewhere.
A movie needs conflict, obviously, but how much of it will exclusively be about this one thing… I don’t know. There should be more than that but this also needs to be authentic as possible. It can’t be like that Chaplin biopic he did where it jumped from one wife to the next with a little of J Edgar Hoover’s witch hunt against him sprinkled in.
At least there’s only a few notable relationships in Robert’s life. Sarah Jessica Parker before his first wife, Deborah falconer. Calista Flockhart for a short time while he was doing the show and separated from his wife. Then his current marriage, going strong since 2005.
Another potential issue- some of the people that influenced Robert and his career path have since been implicated by the MeToo movement or had otherwise been cancelled for one reason or another.
James Toback who worked with him in “the pickup artist” and wrote “two girls and a guy” specifically for him to have work fresh out of rehab in the 90s- he’d had dozens of accusers come forward about him like what happened with Harvey Weinstein. I still feel like he contributed to Robert’s breadth of work and really helped him and it’d be a shame to leave all that out because his inclusion would bother people.
Charlie Rose, in 2003, conducted maybe my favorite interview Robert ever did. I’d love footage of that to be included, but like Matt Lauer, stuff came out about him and women so that would rub people the wrong way. Unless they just had a clip of Robert saying at their roundtable- “it serves a small part of your soul to blow it up cuz if you survive it, you’ll realize there are forces you may never understand that have your back and they’re fairly forgiving”.
Then of course there’s Mel Gibson… I’m not condoning or forgiving any of his transgressions. But the fact remains that he gave Robert a big job after his final stint of rehab. He cast him in a movie adaptation of the British series “the singing detective” and paid the insurance so he could work. That was the start of the path leading him to where he is now.
And no, it’s not as easy as “we’ll just rewrite history and make a different person the one who helped him in these instances.” It doesn’t work like that.
Aside from Susan, the only other advocate in his life I can think of who hasn’t been implicated in some career ending controversy is Jodie foster. There’s one story while working “home for the holidays” where she stops by his trailer. Apparently he was strung out and had lots of “projects” around the room. Like a model of the space shuttle. And she says something like “I think you know I’m aware of what’s going on here. It’s ok on this film because it’s a safe role but don’t think you can get away with getting caught doing this again.”
And you can’t do what they did on Harry Potter, giving all of Dobby’s contributions to Neville. I don’t know beyond this moment how else Jodie foster helped Robert but not enough where you can substitute her in place of Mel Gibson.
Sean Penn might have been an advocate as well but I can’t say for sure. And I’m not sure whether he’s free of controversy. I don’t know him that well.
If they could find some way to include Tropic Thunder in the mix, it should be. Nowadays such a movie would never get made. People are way too sensitive about stuff like that now. But as other people have said, you’re missing the point if you just look it as “he got away with playing a character doing blackface”. The joke is that he played an actor that was so caught up in their own ego, ala “I’m the only one who could’ve played this role” and he went out of his way to give himself the look to pull it off. Having Brandon T Jackson as that voice of reason to say what everyone in the audience is thinking is exactly why it works.
A Realm of Possibilities
aka- the Devil's Advocate section
The big downside is that this movie would come with a few complications. Not simply limited to licensing issues, which are sure to happen depending on how many footage is taken from the Marvel movies.
First off, this will undoubtedly focus HEAVILY on his addictions and criminal history. All of the things I don’t want to focus on when I talk about him. He’d slayed all those demons nearly two decades ago so, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no point on focusing on it anymore.
Unfortunately that is a huge chunk of his life so of course it needs to be part of his story. His first joint (courtesy of Downey Sr.) when he was 8-9, the “method acting” while preparing to shoot Less than Zero, up through the 90s where he was in and out of rehab at least 2-3 times. The most significant part of this arc being the court tv moment where the judge sends him to Corcoran for jail time, reasoning “this just might save your life.” I don’t know for sure if that was also the same day Robert compared his addiction to black tar heroin as “it’s like having a gun in my mouth and I like the taste of gun metal.”
One final rehab stint happened during his time on Ally McBeal. His soon-to-be wife Susan had also said in one article she had faced with that darkness in him once (I forget the metaphor she used, probably Darth Vader) and she gave him an ultimatum. After which he threw his drugs in the ocean and he’d been clean ever since.
I am paraphrasing a bit here. I do have the article saved somewhere.
A movie needs conflict, obviously, but how much of it will exclusively be about this one thing… I don’t know. There should be more than that but this also needs to be authentic as possible. It can’t be like that Chaplin biopic he did where it jumped from one wife to the next with a little of J Edgar Hoover’s witch hunt against him sprinkled in.
At least there’s only a few notable relationships in Robert’s life. Sarah Jessica Parker before his first wife, Deborah falconer. Calista Flockhart for a short time while he was doing the show and separated from his wife. Then his current marriage, going strong since 2005.
Another potential issue- some of the people that influenced Robert and his career path have since been implicated by the MeToo movement or had otherwise been cancelled for one reason or another.
James Toback who worked with him in “the pickup artist” and wrote “two girls and a guy” specifically for him to have work fresh out of rehab in the 90s- he’d had dozens of accusers come forward about him like what happened with Harvey Weinstein. I still feel like he contributed to Robert’s breadth of work and really helped him and it’d be a shame to leave all that out because his inclusion would bother people.
Charlie Rose, in 2003, conducted maybe my favorite interview Robert ever did. I’d love footage of that to be included, but like Matt Lauer, stuff came out about him and women so that would rub people the wrong way. Unless they just had a clip of Robert saying at their roundtable- “it serves a small part of your soul to blow it up cuz if you survive it, you’ll realize there are forces you may never understand that have your back and they’re fairly forgiving”.
Then of course there’s Mel Gibson… I’m not condoning or forgiving any of his transgressions. But the fact remains that he gave Robert a big job after his final stint of rehab. He cast him in a movie adaptation of the British series “the singing detective” and paid the insurance so he could work. That was the start of the path leading him to where he is now.
And no, it’s not as easy as “we’ll just rewrite history and make a different person the one who helped him in these instances.” It doesn’t work like that.
Aside from Susan, the only other advocate in his life I can think of who hasn’t been implicated in some career ending controversy is Jodie foster. There’s one story while working “home for the holidays” where she stops by his trailer. Apparently he was strung out and had lots of “projects” around the room. Like a model of the space shuttle. And she says something like “I think you know I’m aware of what’s going on here. It’s ok on this film because it’s a safe role but don’t think you can get away with getting caught doing this again.”
And you can’t do what they did on Harry Potter, giving all of Dobby’s contributions to Neville. I don’t know beyond this moment how else Jodie foster helped Robert but not enough where you can substitute her in place of Mel Gibson.
Sean Penn might have been an advocate as well but I can’t say for sure. And I’m not sure whether he’s free of controversy. I don’t know him that well.
If they could find some way to include Tropic Thunder in the mix, it should be. Nowadays such a movie would never get made. People are way too sensitive about stuff like that now. But as other people have said, you’re missing the point if you just look it as “he got away with playing a character doing blackface”. The joke is that he played an actor that was so caught up in their own ego, ala “I’m the only one who could’ve played this role” and he went out of his way to give himself the look to pull it off. Having Brandon T Jackson as that voice of reason to say what everyone in the audience is thinking is exactly why it works.
A Realm of Possibilities
aka- the daydreaming section
Who would play the lead role? Chances are they haven’t been born yet. Such a biopic might not be made while he’s still alive- and here’s hoping he gets to be at a ripe old age after everything.
His kids are a good possibility, though. Indio did play a younger version of him in one movie.
Then there’s the question of how many actors would play him through his life. 3 at minimum, probably. A younger version for working on his dad’s movies and early childhood moments. One for his 20s and the rehab/jail time arc. Then where he is now- 2003 onward.
Also- I don’t care how good their American accent is- they need to cast New York actors to play him. That’s my personal caveat. I hate when British actors play American.
The basics of what story arcs should be included:
Who would play the lead role? Chances are they haven’t been born yet. Such a biopic might not be made while he’s still alive- and here’s hoping he gets to be at a ripe old age after everything.
His kids are a good possibility, though. Indio did play a younger version of him in one movie.
Then there’s the question of how many actors would play him through his life. 3 at minimum, probably. A younger version for working on his dad’s movies and early childhood moments. One for his 20s and the rehab/jail time arc. Then where he is now- 2003 onward.
Also- I don’t care how good their American accent is- they need to cast New York actors to play him. That’s my personal caveat. I hate when British actors play American.
The basics of what story arcs should be included:
- growing up with the counter culture movement in his family and his dads filmmaking
- Going to Santa Monica high with a lot of the big brat pack names, culminating in the John Hughes experience
- Less than zero
- Burying his clothes from Less than Zero and doing research for Chaplin
- Rehab, Jodie Foster, and “two girls and a guy”
- Court tv and jail time
- Ally McBeal, ending with him being fired and Calista flockhart fainting after hearing the news (this reportedly happened)
- His first jobs out of rehab, Mel Gibson, and meeting Susan
- Susan’s ultimatum and their wedding
- A montage of roles leading up to the audition for iron man
- Some witty banter between him and Jude law while working on the Sherlock Holmes set
- He and mark ruffalo bond after avengers and he goes on his “carbon footprint” agenda he’d been on for the past few years
- Oscar time!
I can’t help but want this to follow the “Chaplin” blueprint. Despite how heavily they focused on the controversies, they also did a lot of things right.
Maybe at a later date I’ll come back to this and come back with a solid outline of how I’d like this thing to go.
Although my approach might sound more like a documentary than a biopic.
In light of recent events, I’d really love an updated biography of him. All the ones I came across in 2011 focused heavily on the 90s and his recent successes were scarcely a footnote.
Ideally, it would be a two hour movie. Maybe 2 and a half. Rated R for drug use and language. There was one incident he was arrested for where he was reportedly driving naked throwing invisible rats out the window and there was a loaded gun (with dumdum bullets- his words) in the glove compartment. But if things need to be edited down for pacing, there should only be one bizarre incident included. I’d choose the one where he broke into his neighbor’s house and fell asleep in their laundry room.
For any normal movie (i.e. not X rated or pornographic), my opinion is nudity should be limited as long as it contributes to the plot. Full frontal male nudity especially. (Yeah, I’m a straight woman but I’m still very self conscious about that stuff in movies and tend to avoid it if I can)
And for those who are curious how I know these quotes as well as I do, I did binge a lot of interviews in 2011 and watched a few multiple times. I didn’t have a lot going on at the time and my life wasn’t going well so it was a good escape.
Charlie Rose isn’t held in high regard like he used to be but if you can find his interview with Robert from 2003, watch it. They go into a lot of deep stuff that makes you think. Also one of many interviews I saw early on that showed me how articulate and intelligent this actor is. As much as I’m attracted to him or find his life’s story so compelling, I admire how eloquent he is when he’s given free rein. As someone who has to rehearse a thought several times in my head before speaking it aloud, I wish I had that super power.
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