Jodie Foster reveals intervention she made on Robert Downey Jr amid his drug addiction
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, actor Robert Downey Jr‘s career took a backseat amid his struggle with drug addiction before he found sobriety. Now, Downey Jr’s Home for the Holidays director, Jodie Foste,r has opened up on what it was like to work with him during that challenging time.
The 1995 comedy was the second time Foster had taken the directorial reigns on a movie, following her debut, Little Man Tate, in 1991. The film coincided with Downey Jr’s addictions and the year before; he had been arrested for possession of heroin and cocaine.
In an interview with Esquire, Foster opened up on how she took her actor to one side and told him, “Look, I couldn’t be more grateful for what you’ve given in this film. But I’m scared of what happens to you next. Right now, you are incredibly good at balancing on the barstool. But it’s really precarious, and I’m not sure how that’s going to end.”
The director admitted that she saw “genius” in Downey Jr’s acting ability, noting, “There was more creativity in his little finger than I will ever have in my whole life.” However, despite his talent, the actor lacked “discipline”.
The skill Downey Jr possessed, matched with his addiction, largely meant in the eyes of Foster, that he was “flailing his arms in the water and making a big mess.”
Foster went on to note that Downey Jr has achieved a level of discipline as a “way of surviving”, which made the director and The Silence of the Lambs actor find “faith in people’s ability to change if they want it.”
Shortly after the release of Home for the Holidays, which also starred Holly Hunter, Anne Bancroft, Dylan McDermott and Claire Danes, Downey Jr was issued with three years of probation and then jailed for nearly four months after skipping a drug test.
In 1999, he received three years in prison and served 15 months. However, more or less since then, Downey Jr. turned his life around and began to feature in some of the most significant productions of his life. Even though Christopher Nolan initially hesitated to meet Downey Jr for a Batman Begins audition, given his reputation, he would later cast him in his film Oppenheimer, leading to an Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’.
Watch the trailer for Home for the Holidays to see the moment Jodie Foster directed Downey Jr below.
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