Up next in 10
Today, Robert Downey Jr.'s career couldn't be in a better place. After his portrayal of Tony Stark in Iron Man led to the beginning of the most successful movie franchise in history, it seemed RDJ could do no wrong. But in the years before Iron Man hit theaters, Robert Downey Jr. was seen as a major liability and unemployable by most movie studios. But one lucky turn in this Shane Black movie changed everything for Robert Downey Jr., and led to his massive career turnaround starting with Marvel's Iron Man.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
The actor, who still retains the costume he wore on the show, allegedly dressed up
0:04
stumbled down the bike path, and wandered into this Venice Beach house
0:08
An inebriated actor stumbles into the wrong house and makes himself at home
0:13
accidentally frightening the person who lives there. If this sounds familiar, it's probably because you're remembering the true life story of Robert Downey Jr.
0:21
who pretty much did the exact same thing. For a decade or so, it seemed like his career in the
0:25
movies was over. Nothing could be further from the truth. And while most people think it was
0:31
Marvel's Iron Man that turned things around, his comeback actually got started with a bang
0:36
Two of them, in fact. Just, I put in one bullet, didn't I? You put a live round in that gun
0:40
Oh yeah, there was like an 8% chance. 8%? 8%? 8%? Yeah
0:44
Who taught you math? There's more, I don't know. As the son of counterculture filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. and actress Elsie Downey
0:51
Robert Downey Jr. was pretty literally born to be in the movie business
0:55
So I got very used to falling asleep to the sound of clapboards
1:00
It's almost like I was being programmed. At the age of five, he made his first green appearance in his father's film, Pound
1:06
and he would appear in several more of his father's films, eventually dropping out of high school to pursue entertainment full-time
1:12
But Downey Sr. introduced his son to more than just the performing arts
1:16
The elder Downey, who was also a drug addict, introduced his son to marijuana at the ripe old age of six
1:22
It's a move the father would come to regret, but drugs, ever-present in their lives
1:26
became a cornerstone of their relationship. A lot of us thought it would be hypocritical
1:30
to not have our kids participate in marijuana and stuff like that
1:34
so we thought it was cute to let them smoke it and all that. It was an idiot move on our part
1:39
According to Junior, when my dad and I would do drugs together, it was like him trying to express his love for me in the only way he knew how
1:46
I just needed to be my father for one goddamn day. Just... Just help me
1:52
After being a cast member on Saturday Night Live's notoriously awful 1985 season, Junior's
1:57
career in the movies began to take off. He got his first starring role in 1987 Molly Ringwald comedy The Pickup Artist In 1992 he earned an Oscar nomination for his much performance in the biopic Chaplain And over the next several years he would regularly appear in high films
2:13
like Heart and Souls, Only You, and Natural Born Killers. But as his career grew, so did his addictions
2:20
and Downey began to lose control. In 1996, he was arrested for possession
2:24
of two illegal substances and a handgun, an offense for which he was quickly paroled
2:29
It didn't last long, though. Downey violated his parole when he accidentally stumbled into a neighbor's home
2:34
while under the influence of hard drugs and fell asleep in their bed. There's a strange man in my child's bed
2:40
He's unconscious. He was arrested and sentenced to probation, and after missing a court-ordered drug test, he had to serve six months in prison
2:49
I did have a really interesting summer, though. Here's me and my personal trainer
2:54
That guy works me hard. Arrested again in 1999, he served almost a year in the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison
3:02
Following his release in 2000, Downey was cast in a memorable role on the hit series
3:07
Ally McBeal. His performance won him a Golden Globe, but behind the scenes
3:11
he was at a personal low and was fired after being arrested twice more
3:15
Robert Downey Jr.'s latest arrest was the last straw for the TV show Ally McBeal
3:21
He was fired yesterday. According to director Woody Allen, he was unable to cast Downey in his
3:26
2003 film Melinda and Melinda because no insurance company would provide what the industry calls
3:31
a film completion bond, which essentially guarantees the film will be completed on time
3:36
and on budget. No one thought any film with Downey in it could pull that off
3:41
Without an insurance bond, Downey was literally unemployable. This probably would have been the
3:45
end of his movie career, but in 2003, Downey's personal friend Mel Gibson, still a few years
3:50
before his anti-Semitic rantings damaged his own career, personally paid for Downey's bond so he
3:55
appear in the film the singing detective then for 2003's gothic a legendary producer joel silver
4:01
withheld a substantial portion of downey's salary pending the completion of the film as a lever to
4:06
control the actor behavior downey work was beginning to convince many in the industry he was employable again but that didn actually mean anyone was really looking to hire him Luckily for Downey his wife was Silver assistant
4:19
and it was through her that he learned about a new mystery rom-com that was to be directed by Lethal Weapon screenwriter Shane Black
4:26
called Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Charmed by a scene in the script where a character gets his severed finger stolen by a dog
4:32
Downey decided he had to be in this movie. Jesus, Harry, wipe the place clean and get out of there
4:36
Let's get the finger with the print part. Get the finger, kill the dog, get out of there
4:41
Hang on. I think, uh, I think we're safe. A subversive tribute to pulpy detective novels
4:49
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang told the story of a burglar named Harry Lockhart. After getting his partner killed
4:55
Harry hides from the police by ducking into an acting audition that, because of his fragile emotional state, goes surprisingly well
5:02
The producers send Harry to Hollywood, where he's caught up in a murder mystery
5:05
and finds himself teaming up with a stalwart homosexual private eye called Gay Perry
5:11
Still gay? Me? No. I'm need-eating p***y. I just like the name so much, I can't get rid of it
5:16
By the end of the film, Harry becomes Perry's partner, completely changing his life for the better
5:21
The stylish film was hailed by critics, many of whom singled out Downey's performance as being one of the best of his career
5:27
It seemed like he finally was on his way back to stardom. But the movie, which is now considered a cult classic, flopped hard at the box office
5:35
Then, in 2006, Downey made what he recently called one of the two most important films of his career
5:42
The Shaggy Dog. Though it seems counterintuitive that the Tim Allen vehicle, which struck out at
5:46
the box office and earned lousy reviews, could somehow help him, his work on The Shaggy Dog
5:51
convinced Disney that Downey was insurable again. And the corporate revelation came just in time
5:56
because one of the people who saw and loved Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was then up-and-coming director
6:02
John Favreau. According to Downey, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang became the calling card that convinced Favreau
6:07
the actor was the only choice to play the lead role of Tony Stark in his upcoming film Iron Man
6:13
Executives at Marvel were skeptical and they had their eye on the always reliable Tom Cruise for the part but Favreau fought them tooth and nail over the casting It turned out to be a good move for everyone involved Because there were some other people
6:26
I remember sitting down with the guy, and I was like, geez, he just got it in it
6:30
He's got that spark in him and his eye, and he's ready. The film went on to launch what is now the highest grossing franchise in movie history
6:38
the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is, technically speaking, all just sequels and spinoffs of Iron Man
6:44
I would say to Robert, we wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for you. Meaning, we wouldn't have a studio if it wasn't for him
6:50
That's true. Or you. After that, Downey was back and he went on a bit of a tear
6:55
appearing in, among other things, the smash hit comedy Tropic Thunder and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes movies
7:00
He was even able to pay Shane Black back by bringing him to direct Iron Man 3
7:05
the first movie the director got to helm since Kiss Kiss Bang Bang struck out at the box office
7:10
It really seemed like Downey could do no wrong, until the arrival of the other film that he considers one of the two most important of his
7:17
career, 2020's Doolittle. I can sniff defeat like a truffle pig. Based on the classic character who
7:23
talks to animals, the film was intended to be a huge blockbuster, but it didn't go that way
7:28
The humbling experience brought Downey back to Earth. According to the actor, after he finished
7:33
his contract with Marvel, he hastily went into what had all the promise of being another big
7:38
fun, well-executed potential franchise in Doolittle. But Downey, who considered himself as bulletproof as Iron Man at the time
7:45
later admitted that he and his team were a little too excited about the deal and not quite excited enough about the merits of the execution
7:52
Doolittle is now considered one of the biggest flops of all time
7:56
and Downey himself thinks of it as two and a half years of squandered career momentum
8:01
But just a couple of years later, he would sign up to play businessman Louis Strauss
8:05
in Christopher Nolan's 2023 film Oppenheimer. And as of this writing, has Hollywood expecting an Oscar nomination
8:12
for Downey's performance. And it never would have happened without Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
8:17
the story of a good man who made some bad choices that put him in a low and dangerous place
8:22
But like Harry Lockhart, the actor who played him was on a journey that would stop his fall and save his life