Robert Downey Jr.
Not since Travolta in Pulp Fiction has a once-prominent, Oscar-nominated star's faded marquee been so successfully reignited by a single critical/commercial film success. Thanks entirely to Robert Downey Jr.’s charismatic, whip-smart performance in last year's Iron Man, followed by his hilarious, Oscar-nominated turn as Aussie method actor-in-blackface Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder, the 44-year-old actor is back on top after his much-publicized battles with substance abuse back in the late '90s/early 2000s that almost entirely derailed his career.
Now everyone wants a piece of Robert Downey Jr. He just wrapped production in London on the big-budget, Guy Ritchie-directed reinvention of Sherlock Holmes; principal photography started this month on Iron Man 2; and his latest drama with Jamie Foxx, The Soloist, is pure Oscar bait. We present a chronological sampling of Robert Downey Jr.'s critically acclaimed road to redemption:
The Singing Detective (2003): After numerous no-shows, arrests, stints in rehab and jail, no producer in Hollywood would hire Downey Jr. -- except his former Air America pal Mel Gibson. Gibson reportedly paid Downey Jr.'s insurance bond himself and gave him his first post-imprisonment chance at rebuilding his shattered career. Downey Jr. puts on a little-seen, command performance as a hospitalized hardboiled detective novelist who fantasizes that he is his own gumshoe character -- and breaks out into song -- in order to escape his physical and mental anguish.
Gothika (2003): After The Singing Detective showed that he was willing to work, Gothika demonstrated to a wary Hollywood that the once-troubled star could show up on time, every day, and deliver a reliable performance -- in what ultimately turned out to be a mediocre film. Halle plays a psychiatrist who finds herself behind bars in a mental hospital, accused of murdering her husband. Downey Jr. is her challenging co-worker and doctor who treats her.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005): With his comeback now on solid footing, Downey Jr. helped to elevate Lethal Weapon writer Shane Black's crackling directorial debut opposite Val Kilmer, who plays against type as a gay private eye. In the neo-noir comic thriller full of twists and turns, Downey grabs the reins from the get-go as a small-time, on-the-run thief who unwittingly stumbles into a Hollywood audition and nails it when he's forced to read lines about a dead partner – mirroring his real-life incident moments before.
A Scanner Darkly (2006): A frenetic, sardonic and paranoid Downey Jr. steals the show in this phantasmic, rotoscope-animated Richard Linklater film, made all the more real in that he plays a Substance D addict, echoing his own real-life demons.
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006): Continuing his climb back to prominence, Downey Jr. takes the indie route and delivers an emotional, brilliant performance as an L.A. writer who returns to his rough-and-tumble Astoria, New York, neighborhood to help his ailing father ( Chazz Palminteri).
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006): In perhaps his most unique performance to date, Downey Jr. puts Chewbacca to shame as a hirsute shut-in and former circus sideshow freak suffering from hypertrichosis, a malady resulting in extreme hair growth – not to be confused with his performance in The Shaggy Dog.
Zodiac (2007): Downey Jr. contributed much-needed humor to director David Fincher's extended, factually devoted tale of San Francisco Bay Area's Zodiac killer of the late ‘60s. As San Francisco Chronicle journalist Paul Avery, who wore and distributed "I Am Not Paul Avery" buttons after he found himself in the crosshairs of the serial murderer, he conjures up another nuanced performance that also makes the viewer a bit uncomfortable as his onscreen character indulges in drugs and alcohol.
Gerry Gallo writes daily for two top syndicated entertainment news Web sites (save for the weekends, when he tries not to think about them). An East Coast transplant based in L.A., his film, music and TV articles/reviews have appeared on such sites as AOL, Hollywood.com, Scour.com and Hollywood Momentum.
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