Robert Downey Jr. has recently opened up about his transition away from the Iron Man franchise and his upcoming film roles.
The 54-year-old made his first appearance as Tony Stark in 2008’s Iron Man and went on to play him in 10 Marvel films over the last 11 years, most recently appearing in Avengers: Endgame. In an interview with Off Camera with Sam Jones, Downey Jr. reflected on the next phase of his career and working to be a “fit father, husband and citizen”.
“I had an incredible 10-year run that was creatively satisfying. It was very, very, very hard work and I dug very deep, but I have not been forced to explore the new frontier of what is my creative and personal life after this,” he said. “There’s always dependency on something that feels like a sure thing”, he said of his time with the franchise. “It’s the closest thing I will ever come to being a trust fund kid.”
He also expressed the importance of maintaining an “aesthetic distance” from his work.
“I am not this play I’m doing… I’m not my work. I’m not what I did with that studio. I’m not that period of time that I spent playing this character,” he said. “And it sucks because the kid in all of us wants to be like, ‘No! It’s always gonna be summer camp and we’re all holding hands and singing kumbaya. Isn’t it?’ It’s like, ‘no! No, snap out of it'”
Downey Jr. has completed filming for The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle and the Jamie Foxx comedy All Star Weekend. He will also reprise his role as Sherlock Holmes for the third instalment of the franchise, released on December 25, 2020.
Last month he participated in Amazon’s Re:Mars conference in Las Vegas, where he unveiled the Footprint Coalition, an organisation that will use robots and advanced technology to tackle climate change.
“Between robotics and nanotechnology, we could clean up the planet significantly, if not totally, in 10 years”, Downey said.
#Peace.Love.RobertDowneyJr
