Robert Downey Jr. is one of the most extraordinary men in Hollywood whose own story could well be the subject of a biopic. After meeting his current wife, the film producer Susan Levin in the movie Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, he resurrected his career from the wasteland of drug addiction and has since become one of the most successful actors in the world.
The Iron Man film franchise and its Avengers spin-off gave Downey Jr. the perfect foundation to bring himself back from the brink and fulfill the Tinsel Town A-list potential that he had shown before his troubles.
Ever since he appeared in Pound, a film directed by his father – Robert Downey Sr. – at the age of five, Jr. has always had an affection for the limelight, and half a century later, he is seen as one of the best of his generation.
In 1992, he starred as the titular character in Chaplin, a biopic of the legendary comic actor of the early 20th century, which earned the Manhattan-born actor an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
However, things started to head on a downward curve for the undeniably talented actor during the second part of that decade, with numerous arrests, visits to rehabilitation centers and drug problems, culminating in him spending time at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison.
There was a brief reprieve as Downey Jr. joined the cast of the TV series “Ally McBeal” (for which he won a Golden Globe award for Best Performance). However, his character was written out after a pair of drug arrests at the turn of the millennium. After one last stay in a court-ordered rehab, he finally achieved sobriety.
Downey was ranked no. 31 in the 2019 Forbes list of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors with an estimated $66 million in earnings. Funny, smart and interesting, he’s one of the more likable Hollywood actors.
Married to producer Susan Downey (Levin) since 2005, they are raising their son, Exton, seven, and daughter Avril, five. The actor has another son, Indio, 26, from a previous marriage to Deborah Falconer from 1992 to 2004.
Downey Jr., 55 this month, and his family live in Los Angeles on a sprawling estate where the staff employed there include martial arts trainers, spiritual consultants and a private chef.
STRIPLV: Your new film, Dolittle, is obviously based on the well-known series of books by author Hugh Lofting. What attracted you to this project? DOWNEY: Well, on set, we are surrounded by all of these wonderful animals, which are both real and animated. The film is an adventure, but it’s also set in the period when the original stories were set. So, that’s the early 1800s, and it gave both myself and my wife Susan, who is the producer on this movie, the chance to accept a challenge of such a project. I think we both really enjoyed it and I hope everyone who goes to see it does, too. What you’ve also got to think about is that especially when my wife and I work together on a project, and our kids sometimes don’t get the opportunity to see the work that we do, that would have to have had a huge impact on the decision to choose this project. I’ve shown them a couple of the acceptable Marvel movies that I have been in. But I feel that this is a film that they could both watch together, enjoy and then see what we both do for a living and what pays for the things that we do together and the house that we live in! STRIPLV: With being a regular in Marvel franchises, namely Iron Man, are you ever fully-accustomed to working with green screen and CGI animations? DOWNEY: I would say that the challenges I just spoke of, when you have a green screen to work with, that’s a part of the challenges. You’re pretending and regardless of how many times you do it. Yes, you do get more used to it, it is still working with the fact that you are pretending and trying to make things look as real or believable as you can. Working with the fellow actors who you won’t see in the movie as themselves because they were dressed from head to toe in green suits to make sure that they couldn’t be seen in the movie, as they were replaced with the animals in the film, that’s obviously different than doing a scene were you’re having dialogue with a fellow actor who will be seen. Fortunately, the green suited guys are very well trained, and they have been in other such movies like Star Wars and such and their remarkable people. The need to pretend and for it to be seen as authentic and believable for the film, is vital and I would hope this has been achieved. STRIPLV: You’re having the ongoing experience of being a father again in later life. What kind of father are you, and what kind of son have you been? DOWNEY: Most people are self-obsessed, and I think having kids gives you such an opportunity not to think about yourself all the time. Honestly, I think people can say they get pulled into something out of an obligation which then turns into something else, that you go: “Alright, this is absolutely not something that I can deal with.” Then, you say: “Alright, I will deal with it a little bit,” and then you get sucked into it. On the other side of it, with all this resistance you had to it, you got something you never would have gotten unless you let go a little bit and it changed a little bit, and you tried to understand rather than just have everyone understand you. STRIPLV: 2020 will bring up 15 years of your marriage to your wife. Is that a time that has flown by, and what has kept the bond so strong? DOWNEY: It certainly helps and assists in both of our work that we met while we were making a film together, and that also makes things easier when we both thoroughly understand the time you spend when making a movie and then stresses and strains it puts on you. When you work in the same industry, your partner knows exactly what goes on and what to expect with regards to the projects that you take on as an actor or I know as a producer. Ever since we met on Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, we’ve not lived any other life than going from film to film, almost like a traveling circus. Family life also plays a big part and we have two wonderful children who we both love very much. When you have a family, and believe me, we have similar stresses that every parent will have with regards to bringing children up—(Laughs) the refusals to go to bed, the interesting mealtimes and things like that, sometimes, working can be less of a distraction and more like a nice relaxing break to the madness that every family can have from time to time. STRIPLV: Coming off what you have been doing for the last decade or so. You could have chosen a myriad of movies. What made you choose Dolittle? DOWNEY: I think that we were getting ready to do the last two Avengers movies, and I was kind of thinking ahead, and I knew that there would be some wide-open spaces. And this came up, and Susan had connected with Steve Gaghan and Joe Roth and both pretty blue-chip folks, and then I read it, and I sent him a picture of this crazy Welch doctor named William Price, and he said “I love it. I love it let’s go a little wild with it, and then the animals will clean him up.” I was like yep. Right from the beginning, we had one those great first conversations, and then two years later, as usual, here we are, and we are promoting it, and it turned out pretty darn good. STRIPLV: For the people that hear Dolittle and think Rex Harrison or possibly Eddie Murphy, who is this John Dolittle? DOWNEY: Well, in this iteration he’s a one-time royal consultant, a veterinarian, he also had a relationship with the queen, a young Queen Victoria. But he’s fallen into personal disrepair. He suffered a loss, his wife, was a great adventurer and due to a series of events, she’s passed away. So he’s become a recluse, and I also, I love the idea of someone who is a complete hermit and agoraphobic, someone who just wants to never deal with people again. A complete opposite to Tony Stark to be honest with you. And then because of this young lady from court, and this boy who didn’t want to hurt an animal, he was not even trying to hunt but accidentally injured [a squirrel]. I’ve always loved stories that say what happens today that’s never happened before. It’s these two individuals, Stubbins and John Dolittle; they have probably been living within a couple of miles of each other his whole life, and they finally meet on this day, and then it takes them on an interesting and adventurous turn. STRIPLV: There are a lot of animals in this movie. With emotional arcs of their own. You have a little experience with special effects. How was the experience of this one? Was it different techniques, was it just you playing with your imagination having to sort of conjure them out of the air sometimes? DOWNEY: Well, because of that long bench of talent that would be adding the voices and the real specificity to the character after the fact, it was kind of like water painting what I would’ve imagined these different personalities to be like. I mean, you know you’d say the same thing about how every pet we’ve ever [had] a personality that we could pinpoint over them. So all these animals have their own frequency and their own quirks and all that. I am glad that you said arcs because the most important thing is if you don’t feel these animals themselves wanting something from when they started, then it hasn’t been much of a journey. STRIPLV: What do you hope people take away from the movie? DOWNEY: Well, I always want folks to just be entertained. In watching it myself, and I find myself a very harsh critic. I just feel that we succeeded, and that we kind of sent out a message. Some people are saying a message of empathy and communication. I’ve always loved this idea that things can seem like they are a certain way for a certain reason. And we always seem to hold ourselves in judgment for things that have happened in our lives, but what winds up occurring in this adventure is that everyone kind of becomes whole. And the bad guys get it but not that bad. It’s a very different take on family entertainment than I’ve noticed in a bunch of years. And I’m a big fan. I love watching movies with my kids. This feels more to me like the sensibilities of the movies I grew up watching. STRIPLV: Final question. You said you based this character on the inspiration from this doctor to play it with a Welch accent, partly because it was shot in Wales. Particularly in front of people like Michael Sheen, does that scare you at all? DOWNEY: It was the most mortifying thing I’ve ever done. Fortunately, I had a dialogue coach, and by the time Michael Sheen said a couple of friends of his heard it and said it was alright, it was like ugh, it was like the sun rose for the first time in years.