NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: In a recent interview, Robert Downey Jr claims that "the battle for the soul of cinema" is taking place "this summer." The actor, who co-stars in Christopher Nolan's thriller film 'Oppenheimer,' which hits theaters on July 21, made that statement with a hint of knowing cynicism. Although Downey Jr and Cillian Murphy got along well on set, Downey Jr recently admitted that there were times when Murphy was quite challenging to deal with.
Downey Jr, 58, recently granted a rare glimpse into his rocky past and public persona in an interview with the New York Times. The 'Iron Man' actor discussed celebrities rehabilitating themselves in front of the public and "culture deciding who is and isn’t OK," as reported by Fox News.
'It felt strangely punitive'
In the New York Times interview, Downey Jr was specifically questioned about his 'Oprah' interview from 2004 in which he discussed his recovery after spending years in and out of rehab in addition to serving time in prison. The interviewer asked, "I’m curious to know how you understood the public’s expectations for how a celebrity is supposed to behave in order to earn redemption."
"I remember with great pride that I was able to even address something like that in a public forum," he said. "Yet it would irk me deeply. It felt strangely punitive and unnecessarily humiliating. The challenge, though, is, yeah, so what? [Expletive] what you’re going through. Can you show up for this?" He went on, "I am close with people right now who have gotten caught up in this iteration of the pendulum-like nature of culture deciding who is and isn’t OK. It is baffling."
The Marvel star further added: "Shock, self-damnation, feeling exposed, feeling disabused of any progress you might have made — we’re also talking about me in my 40s and 30s, and there’s something great about pushing 60, which is I still have many of the old defects; I just know them so well. They’re like telemarketers."
'I felt victimized by the timeline'
When asked if he had any advice for the people he is close to that culture determined aren't "OK," Downey Jr acknowledged that it's challenging to compare his experiences in the 1980s and 1990s to "that’s occurred in the last five or seven years," but he thinks "there’s usually a two-year turnaround on sinking to the depths of the Mariana Trench until you get back up to the surface."
He continued, "You come up too quick, we know what happens. There are many points in a comeback or being seen in a favorable light by your peers that, I’ll speak for myself, I wanted to happen sooner than it did, and I felt victimized by the timeline."
Downey Jr added: "The scenery’s changing. You don’t get to decide where you get off the bus. The driver will let you know when you’ve arrived at your stop. But that’s that intolerable thing of how will I know when this nightmare is over?"
'You could just feel the evil in the air'
Downey Jr struggled with drug addiction in the past and often visited rehabilitation centers. He also served a term of federal prison for breaking the terms of his probation after getting pulled over for drunk driving. He started abusing heroin and other substances as a result of his out-of-control addiction. His addiction caused him to get arrested numerous times, and it also affected his career. On the 'Armchair Expert' podcast in June, he talked about some of the events from his time behind bars and said, "You could just feel the evil in the air."
His real low point didn't come until 2003. He was detained once more, this time for having cocaine and other substances in his possession. Downey Jr was determined to sober up this time, though. He returned to rehab, and this time, things were different. He was able to maintain sobriety, and his career started to pick up. In 2003, he was cast in the hit movie 'Gothika,' and in 2005, the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe cast him as 'Iron Man.'
