Robert Downey Jr, who played Tony Stark aka Iron Man for a decade, said in an interview with Deadline late last year that Hollywood is currently seeing a fragmentation of the superhero genre from contemporary cinema.
Playing Iron Man for so long, the actor has definitely gained an incredible amount of perspective on the industry and how to tackle other people’s opinions.
Marvel Studios have turned the tides in their favor building an interconnected universe that fans have rallied behind for years now. But, one filmmaker showed his displeasure regarding these big-budget franchise films.
It was none other than Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood) who spoke about superhero films as he targeted Marvel in Tom Segura’s podcast. Robert Downey Jr. was asked to comment on Tarantino’s opinions, to which he had an interesting take.
Read more: Chris Evans’ Co-Star Dethrones His Marvel Rival Robert Downey Jr With Record-Shattering Paycheck
Robert Downey Jr’s Reply To Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino didn’t hesitate to downplay Marvel films as he felt that actors taking on superhero characters are not really movie stars.
“Part of the Marvel-isation of Hollywood is… you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” he said. “But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. It’s these franchise characters that become a star.”
Robert Downey Jr. contradicted Tarantino’s comments as the Deadline reporter asked him if the filmmaker used the genre as a “punching bag.”
“I think I do. I think our opinions on these matters say a lot about us. A piece of IP is only as good as the human talent you get to represent it. But it’s a double-edged sword. If you don’t have the right kind of artist playing that role, you’ll never know how good it could have been.”
He continued to talk about how other artists should look at their own side of the fence before they cast their “aspersions” to really see if it changes their understanding of things.
Robert Downey Jr. Talked About ‘Bifurcation’ In Cinema
Playing Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. told how he was able to transform his acting capabilities. Poking back Tarantino, he said that people questioning other artists’ integrity should get over it as the superhero franchise poses a “bifurcation” threat to cinema.
“I think that creatively it is a waste of time to be at war with ourselves. I think this is a time when everything is so much more fragmented now that I think you have this kind of bifurcation.”
Despite that, the 58-year-old actor felt that there is room for everyone and that big films make smaller films more meaningful.
“We’re all a community. There’s enough room for everything, and thank God for Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water. That’s all I have to say. We need the big stuff to make room for films like Armageddon Time.”
Robert Downey Jr. will next be seen in Park Chan-wook’s The Sympathizer, produced by HBO and will be available to stream on Max streaming service in 2024.
Source: Deadline, YMH Studios
