When Robert Downey Jr went so method he even peed in character: “For no one else’s benefit”
Seven decades after Marlon Brando burst onto the scene and sent shockwaves throughout the entire profession, method acting remains a polarising topic of discussion. Robert Downey Jr has never been regarded as a staunch practitioner, but it’s clear that he pulls out all the stops when he does commit.
It’s not an approach that every thespian enjoys or even appreciates, and it’s easy to see why. For those who’ve dedicated their lives to stage and screen, it’s part of the job to turn up at the beginning of the day, do the work, and then go home while leaving the character at the door.
Others operate under the impression that immersing themselves so deeply into a part they need to walk, talk, eat, sleep, and behave like their character at all times is the best way to deliver the finest possible performance. Brando, Robert De Niro, and Daniel Day-Lewis are just three legends who’ve shown that it works wonders when applied correctly, but that isn’t always the case.
Did Aaron Eckhart need to create an entirely fictitious child and attend a support group for bereaved parents ahead of Rabbit Hole? Absolutely not, and it was a wretched thing to do. Did Jared Leto need to be wheeled to the toilet between takes so that he didn’t slow down the shoot of the derided Morbius by hobbling back and forth on the title hero’s crutches? Nope, but it was on-brand, at least.
Speaking of stars who’ve embraced the method to such an extent they felt compelled to do their business in character, Downey Jr went all-in playing a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude in Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder after co-star Danny McBride revealed that a microphone mishap gave him more of an insight into his colleague’s process than he would have liked.
“They had left Downey’s mic on, and so I’m sitting up there, and I’m like, ‘Oh shit, I can hear what he’s saying,'” McBride told GQ. “He was talking to people, and he was in character the whole time. And then I even watched him walk back to his trailer and saw it from down there, and he was talking to himself: ‘I’m gonna go drain the snake’. He made up a song about how he was gonna go piss in character for no one else’s benefit except for his own.”
An unusual way to go full-blown method, but an undeniably effective one. After all, Downey Jr’s performance as Kirk Lazarus landed him his first Academy Award nomination in 16 years, and he was also shortlisted for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ at the Golden Globes and the Baftas. What makes it even stranger is that he technically wasn’t peeing as Lazarus but as Lincoln Osiris, the character his character plays in the fictional film within Tropic Thunder.
