Robert Downey Jr. names most important films he’s done in the past 25 years
Robert Downey Jr. has named the two most important films of his recent career.
The actor, who is best known for playing Tony Stark aka Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, surprisingly didn’t name his most famous role when highlighting the most “important” films of his career over the last 25 years.
Speaking to The New York Times, Downey Jr. said: “Honestly, the two most important films I’ve done in the last 25 years are The Shaggy Dog, because that was the film that got Disney saying they would insure me.”
In 2006’s The Shaggy Dog, a remake of the 1959 film, Downey Jr. starred opposite Tim Allen, Kristin Davis and Danny Glover. It was widely panned by critics, sitting with a 26 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes, and considered a box office flop at the time.
“Then the second most important film was Dolittle, because Dolittle was a two-and-a-half year wound of squandered opportunity,” the actor added. “The stress it put on my missus as she rolled her sleeves up to her armpits to make it even serviceable enough to bring to market was shocking.”
Like The Shaggy Dog, 2020’s Dolittle was panned by critics and bombed at the box office. The film, however, altered Downey Jr.’s outlook on his future projects.
He added: “After that point – what’s that phrase? Never let a good crisis go to waste. We had this reset of priorities and made some changes in who our closest business advisers were.”
Downey Jr.’s wife, Susan Downey, served as a co-producer on Dolittle, which was developed by the pair’s production company Team Downey Productions.
Later in the interview, the actor names his Netflix documentary Sr. as “probably the most important thing I will ever do”. The film, directed by Chris Smith, follows the relationship between Downey Jr. and his father, Robert Downey Sr., who died aged 85 in 2021.
Downey Jr. next stars in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, where he plays Lewis Strauss opposite Cillian Murphy in the title role. The film arrives in cinemas on July 21, 2023.
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Adam Starkey
NME
