Robert Downey Jr. is one of the biggest stars of Hollywood, who is more popularly known for his role as Iron Man. The actor has given some of the highest-grossing movies in the past years including Avengers, Iron Man franchise, Oppenheimer, Sherlock Holmes, and more. The actor enjoys a gigantic fan following and his Marvel movies have a separate cult following.
Avengers star shared in an interview about the reason for taking up a drug addict role in Richard Linklater’s animated film. He shared the inspiration behind working with the director.
Robert Downey Jr. reveals reason for taking up A Scanner Darkly
The Iron Man star was part of Keanu Reeves‘ film A Scanner Darkly, released in 2006. Downey Jr. revealed in an interview that he was intrigued to become part of the film after he watched the director Richard Linklater’s other film School of Rock.
Downey Jr. shared that three years before his film A Scanner Darkly, Richard Linklater had made a classroom comedy School of Rock. In the film, Jack Black plays a rockin’ slugabed who somehow becomes a substitute teacher at an eminent private school. Instead of learning the curriculum, Black taught his students about pop metal music and eventually trained the kids to play in their bands.
Robert Downey Jr. recalled,
“I saw ‘School of Rock,’ and I was like, why haven’t I worked with Richard Linklater already? Then by the time I got him, I was like, I’m really pissed off. I feel like you owe me some retroactive swag. He gave me the 10-year anniversary ‘Dazed and Confused’ t-shirt, which I still wear with relish.”
School of Rock earned $131 million worldwide on a $35 million budget.
Robert Downey Jr. reveals his experience of working in Keanu Reeves’ film
A Scanner Darkly was released in 2006 and covers heavy themes of addiction and insidious government conspiracies. There was an ambiance of panic and paranoia throughout the film. Keanu Reeves played an agent for a shady DEA-like organization. Reeves infiltrated a local group of potential drug dealers including Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr., and all of them become addicted to the future’s last remaining drug, Substance D.
In a 2006 interview with Movieweb, Downey shared about the experience, when he received the script. He shared that he read it at a chateau but did reveal if it was his own, Reeves’, or someone else’s. He shared,
“I got a call, I read the script, and I thought, this is nuts, this is going to be cool. And Keanu was playing the lead, so I went to the chateau, and we just started to have this spitball session. We talked about the characters and all that. And Woody, and Winona, it was just a great experience for me.”
The actor shared that he did the film because it was directed by Linklater. The film was shot digitally and then animated using an interpolated rotoscope, an advanced animation technique. The star cast included Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder. The film was produced by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney. It was praised for its performances and animation.
Source- Movie web
