LUCID Magazine April 2008 (SD)

8/14/2019 LUCID Magazine April 2008 (SD)

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(Famous: Muses & Manuscripts )

Some Breif synopsis statement will be here, this is short / sweet /

and simple. no more then 3 lines.

2008 Preview Issue26PAGE.

by fred topel


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there are ew actors as charismaticin their sel-destructive ways asRobert Downey Jr. His trademarkwound-up, dicey, real and rawpersonality has made him a mostbeloved Hollywood lead man to-day, despite his ongoing drug-ad-

diction battles. Five years ago, Downey was

the go-to punch line in any late-night jokeabout celebrity rehab. There was a pointwhen the actor couldnt even get insuredor major lm productions. But to every-ones great relie, these days hes shakingthings up on solid ground.

Currently, the clean and insured 43-year-old is still proving his incomparable talentson movie sets as the star o this monthsIron Man. Downey is an unusual castingchoice or Tony Stark the billionaire weap-

ons magnate who becomes Iron Man andstays alive with a chest plate that keeps hisheart beating. Marvel launches the eaturelm with plenty o pyrotechnics to pleasethe eye, as well as a fying metal hero thatcan blast any villain. The production har-kens back to the days o actors honing theircrats, and studios, in this case Marvel Pro-ductions, in charge o their own work.

I remember the original Superman andBrando was in it, Downey says. I thought,

wow, these things must be getting legit!I wasalready, I guess, airly opinionated when Iwas seven.

Acclaimed or his work in prestige lms likeChaplin and intense character dramas likeLess Than Zero, Downey proves that quirky,high-caliber actors make comic book lmsstand out.

All my riends are doing it, jokes Downey.With my buddies, when you want to do

stu, they say, Youre doing what, man?Shaggy Dog? No ones given me any guabout Iron Man.

The actor grabbed hold o his characterwith his typical gusto and sharpened TonyStark with his Downey edge. Near the endo an exhausting day on the set oIron Man,director Jon Favreau needed Downey towalk through the Stark home and checkhis messages. Even in a brie shot to simplyorward the plot, Downey had new lines he

wanted to try; dierent reactions to variouswell-wishers leaving voicemails. This wasthe way it went throughout the entire pro-duction.

I come in every day and say, Ive seen thisin a movie beore. No oense, but i we do[it this way], I havent seen that, explainsDowney. Some o my [ideas] are so ar outthey go, Will you just go put on your chestpiece? I eel the onus and the responsibilityto not venture into this genre without an

understanding that just because it happensto have this two-dimensional aspect to it

in its origins, doesnt mean that it doesntgo deep and it shouldnt be an art orm. Ithink audiences are continually underes-timated. At the same time, I can go see apretty crappy movie and love it, i its got acouple o things that work. Im like a soccercoach with kids that probably shouldnt beplaying soccer.

Back on the set, Favreau looked tired as heentered to discuss the scene with Downey.

The Stark mansion was paved with brownmarble that squeaked as Downey walkedacross it. The marble was actually just rub-ber, hence the squeaking. Later, Favreausaid he appreciates the collaboration, ashe called it.

I think theres something incredible tobe discovered in the moment, especially

when you have actors like Robert who un-derstand it and have been around and seethemselves as shepherds o their roles, saidFavreau. He knows more about their char-acter than the lmmaker does, becausethats the kind o actor I hired.

The two would oten have discussions thatcontinued late into the night, or theydshow up early on the set and lock them-selves in the trailer to talk about their ideasor the lm.

In casting Robert, you have a much dier-ent version o this movie than you would iyou have somebody else younger, less un-ny, less spontaneous, less charismatic, saysFavreau. With him as Tony Stark, we knewwe could hit the humor hard. We knew wecould test the boundaries o likeability be-cause hes so charming that you could re-ally get to the personality Tony Stark has inthe books.

Some o Downeys ideas actually requireda complete re-haul o the set. In one scene,Stark gives a press conerence to a room ullo reporters. Downey wanted the reportersto sit down, when lights were set up or ev-eryone at standing height.

Im not coming in going, This is all wrong!Relight! explains Downey. But I will comein and say, Given the time we have, we canprobably get this many shots. Jons beenvery fexible and very un.

Changing a lm set seems like a relativelywholesome instinct or someone with moreunruly habits, such as violating probationsand requently regressing into drug addic-tion. Even during his younger, more care-less days, Downey was able to channel hiswild energies into artistic pursuits.

I remember the days o Less than Zero orChaplin where I would throw mysel intothis tizzy o prep or 16 hours, Downey re-

calls. The same makeup gal doing this didLess Than Zero, and she was blowing

27PAGE. 2008 Preview Issue

In casting Robert, you have a much diferent

version o this movie than you would i you

have somebody else younger, less unny,

less spontaneous, less charismatic.


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they say he bigger he seback, he bigger he

comeback. I wouldn necessarily recommend

ha people ake ha o hear.



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menthol in my eyes, putting latex on my lips I was do-ing push-ups beore the scenes and my heart was racingorever.

Real lie or Downey has been the stu o past Hollywoodmovies: An emerging talent in the 80s, quickly swept up

in the ast liestyle o drugs, building credibility only torelapse several times. Back in 2003, he actually thoughthed given his last interview on rehab. His team o pub-licists said that rom then on, he could just claim hesalready covered it. Five years later, now acting the parto a comic book character who has turned to the bottle,he taunts me when I try to sugarcoat the question heslearned to expect.

Just bring it, dude.

Okay, Robert, since youve been through addiction prob-lems, could you relate more to Tony Stark?

I think when someone has had a undamental changeand theyre not just trying to backpedal; by the timeyouve seen the light; by the time you get out o Dodgeand start doing the right thing, you really dont relateto the person that historically people still say [you are],Downey says.

Its always kind o an inside game, and I orget that oc-casionally, but they keep writing the shit, Downey con-tinues. Its that thing, like lie is 85% maintenance, andyou realize at the end o your day that you spent most

o the day just making sure that other peoples energyand all your own mindtalk wasnt ruining it. Like theday plans to be good, and then you come in like CRASHCRASH CRASH tr ying to VROOM VROOM VROOM.

Interviewing Downey is always un because hell go o

on tangents more interesting than the original questionanyway. This topic somehow veers o to people withworse reputations than Downey.

Its like the guy who says, I you Google me, all youreever going to see is that I was accused o raping those

two kids on a boat, or whatever, he says. Its like, why amI Googling you anyway?Thats a really nice headspace.

Wait a minute. This isnt an attempt to evade the realquestion, is it?

No, Downey eventually gets to the real story.

Well, they say the bigger the setback, the bigger thecomeback. I wouldnt necessarily recommend thatpeople take that to heart, Downey says. Its kind o oneo those agnostic journeys. I dont want to be a JosephCampbell chapter, but most everyones lie is one my-

thology or another. I guess thats why its there, to letyou know those stories mean something. I took somehits mostly in my own making, but everyone transorms.Some o its just a unction o age. Im not in my twenties.Im not in my thirties.

Even during the dark times, Downey still cared abouthis crat. It just took some growing up to teach him thathe couldnt have it both ways. He couldnt be an Oscar-nominated actor andget arrested or possession o nar-cotics.

It never occurred to me, particularly ater I did Chap-lin, that there was this 18-month window where I wasntsupposed to smoke bowls and watch the History Chan-nel, Downey says. I was supposed to plan the next bigthing. I guess it was that thing, too, o the narcissism owanting to act like it wasnt that important to me and I

didnt care, and also having the tendency to like to checkout and anesthetize mysel. Between the two o those,its like youre not fring on all cylinders and its not thatkind o party. Its not a rat race, its a road rally or sure.

Working his way back into Hollywoods good graces was

a gradual process. Downey had to successully completeindependent flms like Two Girls and a Guy, and later, TheSinging Detective, to prove he wasnt an insurance risk.For a while, the actors lie was choppy, and Hollywoodalways weighs its risks against the potential rewards ohiring an actor.

I just think theres an understanding, Downey says. Itslike i you want a French-speaking actor who you thinkis right to do your flm, you understand that there willbe certain communicative necessities, or whatever. Itsreally just an equation. I can think o two people ohandwho it never got as public as it was with me, and ater a

certain amount o time, [proved] the most stable peopleare the people who are committedly not unpredictableanymore.

New Hollywood has shown not only its orgiveness inhiring Downey or a big budget ranchise, but its aith,signing him to two sequels. This could see Downeyplaying Iron Man until another generation o Hollywoodtakes over.

We wrapped this and Im on to the next thing, Downeysays. Im in great shape and I have tons o energy and

I have more gratitude than I can even bear to express.You could say thats because I have something to weighit against, or you could say its because Im a grateul guynowadays.

And or that, were all thankul.




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( Photos by Zade Rosenthal )- Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

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LUCID Magazine April 2008 (SD)

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