WHET Robert Downey Jr?

Sobriety - yuck

He suffers from RTS allegedly. It turned him into a Republican.

He was gang raped in prison.

He's fine with his net worth of $300 million, and sends his love.

At this point he can select the projects he wants.

He's still famous. Sure his recent stuff flopped but he's known as Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes. Like Paul Rudd and Patrick Dempsey, his career rebounded from the 90s and he maintained relevance into the 21st century.

Haven't we done this thread twice in the last few months?

His upcoming stuff includes a role in Oppenheim and four concurrent roles (as different men) in a Vietnamese 20th century historical drama.

I think he has a few non-superhero moments left to play out.

And I like him personally. He was gorgeous as a youth; I think he's smart and witty and still has those soft brown eyes.

Obviously he has issues about his sexual assault in prison. But who put him in that situation? On one level, I feel bad for what happened to him. But OTOH, most people in his situation weren’t born into privilege. A wad of bills can reduce the pain of surprise anal.

Did he confirm that he was assaulted in prison?

Photo of the RDJ in the wild (with young).

Note the ingenious hanging nest, suitable for the RDJ to curl up and take a nap between blueberry hunts.

I'll be sure to check the bank accounts of rape victims and adjust my sympathy levels accordingly, R8.

First off, he was a drug addict - not a violent criminal or Republican talk show host. What put him in jail was this country's belief that pot and murder are moral equals.

Second - he had no money when he got out of jail. His career was in the toilet. He was sleeping on friends' sofas. His parents were not really in the picture.

He rebuilt his life with help from friends because he made friendships that those people evidently valued.

I respect that.

He rebuilt his life whelp from wealthy influential friends. Far different than a regular joe. I don’t respect that.

Given the fact that plenty of people in the film industry DIDN'T rebuild their lives from similar low points, I guess we'll just have to agree that we have different standards for behavior.

He's had his comeback and now he is doing something very wise by being quiet and staying out of the spotlight. Americans love a comeback or success story.... until they start seeing too much of a person. Then the public turns vicious very quickly.

He was at some GQ event last night by the looks of it

He made more money than god. He sends his love OP

RDJ's son is his spitting image.

He's really a boring actor. Good but boring

He's hilarious in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

He kinda did in this interview R9. That was of course pre Marvel fame and when he was more or less openly bi.

He is a guy who does lots of good on the down low on a personal level.. He is generous, kind & quite humble & human.

Loved him in Sherlock & Tropic Thunder, Home for the Holidays, Iron Man, Weird Science, Less than Zero, True Believer, Soapdish(a real fav.), US Marshalls, Natural Born Killers, Richard III and many more.

As to his boohooing about an Oscar, maybe he's a bit evolved & like K. Stewart could care less. I think it isn't such a badge of honor anymore. The Academy has killed its own goose.

She died in a grease fire.

Let me see, OP....he's stuck in a pandemic like the rest of us and is furthermore taking some time off to lick his wounds after Dolittle turned into Robert Please Donotdothateveragain.

He has some interesting stuff in the pipeline and I'm actually looking forward to Sherlock Holmes III (the first movie sucked but the second was great campy satire).

He looks great for his age.

R17, in the pic at R10 - yeah, I totally see it. What's more I suspect his son probably acts a lot like him, so no pre-sweetened breakfast cereals in that house.

The older he gets, the more queenlier he gets.

I thought he was wonderful in RESTORATION. Can't believe that was 26 years ago!!

Are you sure R25?

That vanity fair interview was pretty sad. Thank you who ever posted as have never read that. It's great he turned his life around. As that is not easy. Gawd prison would be the worst. Can you imagine? I don't know his sexuality but he seems very gay friendly and not in a baiting way.

RDJ was great in Tropic Thunder (as was Tom Cruise). But he gets alot of shit for that role now.

It seemed that he really disliked Hugh Grant on the set of Restoration - anyone know why?

Robert Downey, Jr. is fine, and sends his warmest best wishes.

Automobile collection....

Congratulating Scarlett Johansson...

Charming guy--beautiful when he was young.

"Will he ever get an Oscar?"

When, If, unless or until they start giving Academy Awards for action films or things based upon comic strips, my guess would be Robert Downey, Jr. won't be getting one.

Sherlock Holmes III is set for release in 2023, but again don't see how RDJ would be in running for an Oscar from that performance.

R35, as above, Downey has just been cast in Oppenheim, which given the subject matter, may or may not put him in the running.

I think if he gets the nomination, he'll win the award.

He should have won for Chaplin. Al Pacino was an embarrassment.

Chaplin was laughably horrible! Utter shite

If he died in the late 90s, he would have been seem as a legend by the media and he'd have an even bigger cult of fans.

*seen

R39, what makes you say that? His output in the late 90s was pretty weak and he generally looked like death warmed over by then.

I think that RDJ is one of those people who started beautiful, went through a sort of goofy-looking phase and then aged well.

He's very rich and famous, and in multiple major films a year....

He hit rock bottom in the late 90s and that was the most likely time he would have died. Even though his career was drying up. He had made a number of interesting films. There would have been revisionist history in regards to his career. Just like everyone who died young.

Here's an snap of RDJ and his drama class award. Some interesting details there.

I think he looks like hell in his old age- wrinkled, thin lipped, thin skinned with shoe polish on his head. I saw a few minutes of iron man 2 and was distracted by how rough he looked.

He was adorable when young though and seems like a genuinely nice person.

Is he a smoker?

He made millions in stupid roles and has no will to stretch himself as an actor anymore. He was supposed to be the great hope of acting. Instead he got sucked up by Hollywood money as happens so often

I watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang recently. RDJ and Val Kilmer had such great chemistry. Val's role was refreshing gay representation, not a stereotype nor eunuch. Great dark comedy, compared to Quentin Tarantino's work but I think the writing and dialogue is far better than a lot of Tarantino's.

RDJ has this skill that a lot of actors do not have and that's vulnerability. He makes you feel sorry for him even when he plays the most selfish and destructive characters. He acts with his eyes.

Great actor doing schlock for the payout.

Sorry, it's a smart move but he's got no respect for his own instrument.

Now that he's richer than Croesus, he should return to serious work and end out his career like Christopher Plummer. Then he can be remembered fondly, instead of for stupid shit like Iron Man and Sherlock (he never should have touched the latter).

RDJ could easily return to serious work. Iron Man and Sherlock were not bad as far as Hollywood popcorn fare goes. I enjoyed him in both. Doolittle and Due Date though, yes that was a mistake. He hasn't gotten to Johnny Depp level of destroying his credibility with schlock.

He’s still closeted . That’s difficult to stay sober

r50 Nah, he';s going to schlock. .. it's easier than taking schlong.

At this point, he's just a character actor and that character is RDJ. RDJ as....

He'll need to duck out of the spotlight until the hype fades to do a meatier role and show off his talents.

But he doesn't has much else than (not quite so) ambiguously gay to offer.... and Tom Hank's won't let him do that anymore.