Robert Downey Jr. names the “two most important films” he’s made in the last 25 years
Over the last 20 years, Robert Downey Jr. has gone through a career renaissance and become one of the most in-demand figures in Hollywood. While he’s widely known as Iron Man’s Tony Stark to many, the two most important films of the last 25 years of his career don’t come from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
When speaking to The New York Times, Downey Jr. first talked highly of the 2006 film The Shaggy Dog, saying, “That was the film that got Disney saying they would insure me”. Although not a part of Disney yet, Downey’s Iron Man franchise would later become the lynchpin for the Marvel Cinematic Universe once in Disney’s hands, with viewership peaking with Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
Directly after saying goodbye to his role with Marvel, Downey Jr. also brought up 2019’s Doolittle as his second most important film, calling it “a two-and-a-half-year wound of squandered opportunity”. His first post-Marvel outing saw Downey adopting the character of a doctor with a distinct way of talking to animals.
Downey’s wife, Susan, served as the co-producer of the film and he explained how hard she worked on the project, “The stress it put on my missus as she rolled her sleeves up to her armpits to make it even serviceable enough to bring to market was shocking”.
Alongside those two feature films, Downey Jr. was also dealing with his father, who worked as a director, passing away at the same time. While he was on set, the Doolittle star would send film crews to his father’s house to document his life, which later became the documentary Sr., which Downey Jr. described as “the most important thing I will ever do”.
Downey’s latest project is starring in the Christopher Nolan epic Oppenheimer, where he plays the role of Lewis Strauss. In the same interview, the actor discussed his admiration for Nolan’s work. “Getting to see the spartan, almost monastic way he approaches this art form, it was like going to the other side of the moon,” he said.
The massive cast accompanying Downey Jr. for Oppenheimer is comprised of some of the biggest stars in the film industry, including Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, and Matt Damon. Oppenheimer premieres in theatres on July 21st.
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