Robert Downey Jr. Declined a Best Actor Oscar Campaign For AVENGERS: ENDGAME
Disney Studios recently revealed that they are pushing Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame for several Oscar nominations for next year’s Academy Awards. A lot of fans were upset that Robert Downey Jr. wasn’t being pushed for a Best Actor award, but there’s a reason for that.
It’s not that Disney didn’t want to push Downey Jr. because they did. The decision not to do it came from the actor himself. While a guest on The Howard Stern Show, Downey Jr. explained:
“I’m so glad you brought this up because there was some talk about and I said let’s not and because I’m much more like you than you might really want to believe. I listen to the show and I agree with most all of your opinions, varied though they may be. Occasionally, you’ll go on some tributary trail of thought I’ll go like ‘oh that’s not how I see it, but I love that you see it that way.”
He added, “I’ll tell you the truth. I didn’t expect [the Marvel Cinematic Universe] to become what it became, and it is this very large, multiheaded Hydra at this point.”
Downey Jr. also offered his opinion on what Martin Scorsese recently said about how Marvel movies aren’t cinema, revealing that he appreciates the criticism, “It’s his opinion. I mean it plays in theaters. I appreciate his opinion because I think it’s like anything. We need all of the different perspectives so we can come to center and move on.” He added:
“In his view, and by the way, there’s a lot to be said for how these genre movies, and I was happy to be part of the problem if there is one, denigrated the art form of cinema. When you come in like a stomping beast and you eliminate the competition in such a demonstrative way, it’s phenomenal.”
What do you all think about Robert Downey Jr. bowing out of the Oscar campaign? What do you think about his thoughts on what Scorsese said?