Robert Downey Jr. Says He Was Concerned That Playing Iron Man for 11 Years Had Hurt His Acting Skills

Robert Downey Jr. has been acting for several decades, making comedies and dramas, earning two Oscar nominations, making fans laugh and cry through so many different roles and stories, but at this point, he is best known for playing Tony Stark aka Iron Man in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. He started off the film saga with the 2008 hit Iron Man, and he went on to appear in nine films as the character, ending with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

While this was a great gig for the actor, and he played it so perfectly, it did have him concerned that he wouldn’t be prepared to return to other roles. In a recent interview with The New York Times Magazine, he said of the risks of playing the same character for over a decade, “You start to wonder if a muscle you have hasn’t atrophied.”

When asked if he had any concerns about what effect playing Iron Man for 11 years might have on his acting, Downey Jr. replied:

“Yes. 100%, and I knew there was a point where Christopher Nolan was endorsing, let’s work those other muscles, but let’s do it while rendering you devoid of your usual go-to things.”

Downey Jr. is starring as Lewis Strauss in Nolan’s atomic bomb epic Oppenheimer. Strauss served two terms on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. He was the organization’s chairman during his second term. The film gave Downey Jr. a chance to flex acting muscles he couldn’t in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nolan didn’t want the actor relying on his “usual go-to things,” which Downey Jr. described as “fast-talking, charming, unpredictable, blah, blah, blah.”

Working with Nolan also brought Downey Jr. back to a far more practical mode of filmmaking. Unlike the green screens and VFX-heavy work of Marvel, Nolan shot Oppenheimer with practical effects and even reconstructed the Manhattan Project village so that he wouldn’t be shooting the film on a studio lot. It was a welcome return for Downey Jr.

“Coming from that other place, entering the box-office-weekend-dominating place, then going into this spot now where I’m happy that I’m in this quality product — I’m happy that I regained my connection with a more purist approach to making movies.”

It’s no surprise that Downey was able to return to acting without any issue. He’s incredibly talented, and I can’t wait to see him in this new role. Oppenheimer opens in theaters next week on July 21st.

via: Variety