The role nobody wanted Robert Downey Jr to play: “Under no circumstances for any price”
He might be a bonafide box office star these days, but Robert Downey Jr hasn’t always been so reliable. As a younger man, the second-generation star was a textbook hellraiser. Drink, drugs, erratic behaviour, he ticked all the boxes, and it almost cost him his career on a number of occasions.
Mercifully, Downey was able to turn things around in the early 2000s. A number of big projects came his way, including Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Good Night, and Good Luck, and A Scanner Darkly. It was in 2008, however, that things would change forever. Downey made his first appearance as Tony Stark, the quick-witted, playboy billionaire who eventually morphs into the heroic Iron Man. Not only was Iron Man a hit in its own right, but it spawned one of the biggest film franchises of all time – the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Had it not been for Downey’s undeniable charisma in the role, the letters ‘MCU’ might have never entered common parlance.
In a way, it’s odd that Downey was ever cast. Up to that point, superhero movies weren’t star vehicles. Tobey Maguire wasn’t a big name prior to donning the ‘Spider-Man’ suit, and Hugh Jackman was only a made man after his first appearance as Wolverine. Director Jon Favreau originally wanted an unknown in the role, but those plans went out the window. The likes of Jim Caviezel, Clive Owen, and Sam Rockwell were heavily considered, with the last name on that list coming perilously close to taking the job. As for Downey, he was originally a complete outsider.
According to an interview with RDJ by Rolling Stone, Favreau was originally told by Marvel that “under no circumstances are we prepared to hire him [Downey] for any price”. Dejected, the director reached out to his first choice and delivered the bad news. The actor’s response is what eventually got him the job. Apparently, Downey replied, “With your permission, I’m going to hold out hope.” Inspired by his star’s optimism, Favreau redoubled his efforts, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Why was Favreau so keen to hire an actor with such a volatile past? A recent one at that. Firstly, Downey was a noted fan of the original comic books, which wasn’t something a lot of people were willing to disclose at that point. Secondly, his character arc is perfectly mapped across to Stark’s – a young prodigy who turns his life around after a messy adolescence.
It’s hard to imagine anybody else playing the character now. Downey is so effortlessly watchable as Stark, a smart-arse with a heart of gold. He went on to play the character in ten movies overall, spearheading the franchise as it destroyed box office records and redefined what it meant to be a blockbuster. He also set the mould for a breed of snarky, wise-cracking frontman that would dominate mainstream cinema for years to come – for better and for worse.
Outside of the MCU, Downey has fronted Guy Ritchie’s excellent ‘Sherlock Holmes’ series, given a stellar performance opposite Robert Duvall in The Judge, and, of course, captured a ‘Best Supporting Actor’ Oscar for his role as Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
With over a decade-and-a-half’s worth of success to prove it, I think we can all safely say that Favreau made the right choice in standing by his original pick.
