He’s a two-time Oscar nominee, so there’s no question that Robert Downey Jr can act. The question is whether there’s any acting involved in his performance as Iron Man’s Tony Stark, who returns this week in Captain America: Civil War. The more we see of both, the more it appears that Downey might just be playing himself. Here’s a little of the evidence:
1. He’s a master of disguise
When an Avenger goes undercover, he or she simply dons a plain baseball cap and sunglasses and somehow passes unnoticed. Robert Downey Jr, however, takes it to the next level. According to his Road Trip co-star Zach Galifianakis, Downey knows someone who makes prosthetics for film stars and celebrities to use in order to go about in public unnoticed. “Robert was telling me that he knows a mask maker that people use to go out in public,” said Galifianakis on Mark Maron’s WTF Podcast.
"I thought maybe he was joking so I didn't ask a lot of questions, but I'll definitely follow up on it because that would be amazing. This guy, like, will take a mold of your face, Robert was saying, and alter it.” He could be standing next to you right now.
2. He doesn't have to answer your silly questions
Tony Stark doesn’t kowtow to the press – and neither does Downey. When promoting The Soloist, he was asked how his Tropic Thunder character Lincoln O’Siris / Kirk Lazarus would react to Downey’s Soloist co-star Jamie Foxx and his performance as a schizophrenic music prodigy, given Kirk’s “never go full retard” speech about Hollywood actors’ attempts to portray mental illness. Apparently finding the question disrespectful of his colleague, he shut down the whole query immediately.
Similarly, when a Channel 4 interview for Avengers: Age Of Ultron brought up his troubled past, he walked out. Not much Method acting, then, in the Iron Man 3 scene where he destroys a journalist’s recorder when pestered after the injury of a close friend.
3. He can be a real-life hero
Last year, a story emerged about Downey – pre-superstardom, pre-rehab – acting in a distinctly heroic fashion. An elegant but elderly lady slipped at a Hollywood party and cut her leg quite badly, and while onlookers stood shocked, it was Downey who took charge. He used his cream linen jacket to staunch the blood, flirted outrageously to distract the victim from her pain, and asked someone to call an ambulance, to bring water, to fetch a blanket. He stayed until help arrived, ruining a good suit but winning over one grateful family for life.
4. He hates The Dark Knight
He may not have been entirely serious here, but Downey claimed not to really get Christopher Nolan’s Bat-masterpiece. “I feel like I’m dumb," he said. "It’s like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I’m like, ‘That’s not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.’ Didn’t get it, still can’t tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I’m like, ‘This is so high brow and so f–king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.’ You know what? F___ DC comics. That’s all I have to say and that’s where I’m really coming from.”
Hmm, he may not be quite as much of a genius as his onscreen counterpart, but he’s correct in spotting some major plot-holes.
5. He owns a collection of fabulous cars
Tony Stark owns a Shelby Cobra, a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, an Acura, assorted supercars and a whole bunch of Audis (the company has a deal with Marvel). But Downey’s collection may be even more interesting. As of two years ago, his garage included a Porsche, a Corvette, a Ford F150, a Bentley, a Woody, a 1970 Boss 302 Mustang, a 1970 Mercedes-Benz Pagoda, an Audi A8, an Audi RS7, a Mercedes-Benz wagon and a 2011 VW GTI.
6. He provides bionic assistance to those in need
Iron Man has been known to share his suits with his buddy Col. Rhodes / War Machine, and his energy technology with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the US government. It’s somehow appropriate then that when researchers at the University of Florida built a shiny new bionic limb for seven year-old Alex Pring, who was born with only part of his right arm, it was delivered by Downey, in character as Tony Stark.
7. He attributes much of his success to his father
A scene early in Captain America: Civil War sees Tony Stark grappling with the memory of his parents, and in particular his troubled relationship with father, Howard Stark. Downey has a more successful relationship with his own father, Robert Downey Sr, as he made clear in a 2008 speech. “I remember when I was at my very lowest, my dad, who had put down all that dumb stuff 20 years before, said, ‘Hey kid, stick around. It’s not so bad. Just stay on the planet.’ I just want to honor my dad for being every inch the man I remember him to be and thank him.” Downey Sr.’s deadpan response? “I’m not your father!”
8. He has a taste for large gestures
On set of the first Avengers film, Downey admired the 30ft letter “A” that becomes the Avengers logo when most of the name of “Stark Tower” is destroyed during the Battle of New York. A couple of years later, a massive truck turned up at his Team Downey production offices in Venice Beach and dropped it off, where he said it would be “prominently placed”.
9. He wants what he wants
The first Iron Man film saw Tony Stark decide to buy a Jackson Pollock painting against the advice of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper, who considered it a bad investment. Downey isn’t quite so extravagant – that we know of – but he apparently travels with his own furniture, setting it up in whatever rental location he ends up so that he has somewhere familiar to retreat at the end of the day. We feel like Stark would approve.
10. He knows how to throw a party
He may be in recovery following a misspent youth, but never let it be said that Downey doesn’t still know how to party. His 50th birthday saw him hire an airport hanger and fill it with celebrity friends including Gwyneth Paltrow, Orlando Bloom, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Tobey Maguire and Gwen Stefani. He then had Duran Duran open for Steely Dan, and was brought onstage with the latter to attempt to sing along with one of their songs – but got so excited that he forgot the words and had to mime singing.
At least it’s less embarrassing than Tony Stark’s birthday in Iron Man 2, which saw him get horribly drunk, publicly urinate (in his supersuit) and then get into a brawl that destroyed half his house. Oh, and you know that Stark would have invited AC/DC to play.
11. Downey also owns a 6’, working Iron Man suit
Sort of. This one can’t carry a human being and doesn’t have an onboard computer, but it does light up and fly, so that’s close enough. It was built by master model maker Greg Tanous to mark the end of filming on The Avengers.
12. He’s a futurist
There’s a line in Civil War describing Tony Stark as a “futurist” – which is something of an in-joke, since Downey recorded a jazz/pop album in 2004 called, yes, The Futurist. It got mixed reviews, called “unpredictably moving” but also “dull”.
13. He can work a room
Given how much Tony Stark loves to celebrate, well, his own achievements – remember this scene in Iron Man 2? – he’d enjoy an children’s Iron Man costume contest like the one that Downey crashed at Comic-Con in 2012.
14. He’s very rich
Downey may not – quite – have Tony Stark money, but he has made an estimated $80m last year so he’s closer than the rest of us. His salary for the next two Avengers movies, Infinity War Parts 1 and 2, is rumoured to nudge $200 million. Incidentally, estimates of the cost of a real Iron Man suit range from $110m upwards, so even Downey might have to save up to build one.
15. He has fashion flare
Or maybe not. Tony Stark would never do this.
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