About a fortnight ago, Quentin Tarantino joined what I like to call “LDCAM”, or Anti Marvel League of Eminent Directors, opining that the actors who have participated in MCU productions are not movie stars; statements that were soon refuted by Simu Liu and even by his regular collaborator Samuel L. Jackson —and rightly so.
Robert Downey Jr. zen version
In case you had been wanting another chapter in this exciting —or not— drama, Robert Downey Jr. has also decided to contribute his two cents on the matter. It has been in an interview with the Deadline medium, in which the actor who gave life to the late Iron Man has taken out for a walk the most diligent and zen side of him.
“I think our views on these issues say a lot about us. I think we are in a time and a place, to which I inadvertently contributed, where PIs have taken over principle and personality. But it is a weapon of double edged A work born of an IP is only as good as the talent you have to make it, and you can have great works born of IPs even if from an author or a director and screenwriter who is a national treasure, but if you don’t have the artist right playing that role, you’ll never know how good she could have become.”
Downey Jr. has also flaunted self-criticism to later thank the existence of blockbusters as life supports of a film industry with much more to offer.
“I think creatively it’s a waste of time to be at war with ourselves. I think we’re at a point where now that we have this fork, everything is much more fragmented. Throwing stones one way or the other… and I have had my reactions in the past when I felt that someone was saying something that discredited my integrity.
Did you know? Let’s get over it. We are a community. There is enough space for everything. And thank goodness for ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and ‘Avatar: The Sense of Water’. That’s all I have to say. We need the heavyweights to make room for movies like ‘Armageddon Time’.”
To top it off, the interpreter has celebrated the transformative experience that his career has given in recent years and has recommended that, before starting to release outbursts about others, let’s look inside ourselves.
“I’m just saying that things are changing and I’m at a point in my life where I’m working with Chris Nolan on what has been a transformative experience for me, where I’ve been in pre-production, post-production and leading ‘Mr.’ to market, and the next thing I’m going to do is a series with my wife and director Park Chan-wook based on a Pulitzer Prize winner called ‘The Sympathizer.’
I’ll just say that before you slander others, experience your own rebirth and see if it doesn’t change your mind a bit. Reinvent yourself before you decide that someone else doesn’t know what he’s doing, if there’s something that’s keeping you from being your best, or if one thing is better than another.”
Robert, who has seen you and who sees you.