Shortly before he and other cast members walked out on the UK premiere of Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” yesterday, Robert Downey Jr. couldn’t help but praise the new film. And IndieWire reports that RDJ’s endorsement of Nolan’s latest isn’t just high praise. “Just going to flat out say it: This is the best film I’ve ever been in,” said Downey Jr., “and I cannot wait for you all to experience it.”
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That’s exciting to hear from Downey Jr. as he continues his post-Marvel career. The actor hasn’t been shy in his press rounds for “Oppenheimer” that he was “a hundred percent” concerned about his career after “Avengers: Endgame” in 2018, as he told the NYT in a new interview. “You start to wonder if a muscle you have hasn’t atrophied,” he explained about taking on work after his Marvel stint. RDJ didn’t shy away from how he “hastily” got on board to star in “Dolittle” even though he “had some reservations” about the project. “Me and my team seemed a little too excited about the deal and not quite excited enough about the merits of the execution,” explained the actor.
“Dolittle” was a critical disaster, and not just due to the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing when it hit theaters. But Downey Jr. found the experience of making the blockbuster the “second most important film” of his career,” because it was a “two and a half year wound of squandered opportunity.” That made Nolan wanting him for “Oppenheimer” that much more enticing. “I knew there was a point where Chris Nolan was endorsing, let’s work those other muscles,” explained RDJ about his role in the director’s latest, “but let’s do it while rendering you devoid of your usual go-to things.”
In “Oppenheimer,” Downey Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. In Nolan’s film, he’s portrayed as one of the primary antagonists to Cillian Murphy‘s astrophysicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the reasons Downey Jr. wanted the part. Strauss isn’t a hero, like Tony Stark/Iron Man, which makes the role a bit of a palette cleanser for him career-wise.
But that kind of challenge or about-face was what RDJ wanted at this stage in his career. “At this point, you’re not doing it for the money,” the actor explained to the NYT. “Were you ever doing it for the money once your baseline needs were met? Probably not. Did you think it was about money and prestige? Probably from the time I was a teenager until that illusion dissolved in front of me, leaving me in a depressive state. But then there’s the why: I don’t know why I can relate to Lewis Strauss so much, but I felt like I was meant to play this role, and I knew I’d be in capable hands. “Oppenheimer” has been a bit of a demarcation line for me.”
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Nolan praised Downey Jr.’s turn as Strauss particular because it’s a “completely different” role for him to play. “He’s one of our great actors, and though a generation of kids know what a great movie star he is, they’ve not seen his subtlety and brilliance,” the director said to the LA Times. “I wanted to get him to do something completely different, to lose himself in another human being. When was the last time we’ve seen that? “Chaplin“? Directors are very aware of how talented Downey is, but because of his incredible energy that can punch through the screen, finding the right thing for him is difficult.”
But if Downey Jr.’s ringing endorsement is to be believed, “Oppenheimer” wasn’t just “the right thing for him,” but the perfect thing. “Oppenheimer hits theater everywhere next weekend, on July 21.
