Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. has a unique career trajectory when it comes to his acting choices in Hollywood. Having garnered international fame for portraying the iconic character Iron Man in the MCU, Downey Jr. once opened up about the biggest milestones of his career. However, his answer might surprise many.
Having worked in the industry for over 25 years, Downey Jr.’s decision to take on the role of Iron Man has been a pivotal move in his career. But surprisingly, Iron Man isn’t a film that makes it to Robert Downey Jr’s most important movies list.
Robert Downey Jr. ditched Iron Man while revealing his top two most important films
During his interview with The New York Times Magazine, Robert Downey Jr. revealed that the two most important movies in his career according to him are The Shaggy Dog and Dolittle. Interestingly, both projects were critical and commercial failures.
The 2006 Disney movie The Shaggy Dog was a science fantasy family comedy where Tim Allen turns into a dog. Having grossed a total of $87.1 million against a $60 million budget, the movie proved to be a box office bomb. Moreover, with a 26% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie largely received negative reviews from the critics.
On the other hand, the 2020 movie Dolittle, a remake of the 90s animal-loaded literary franchise, starring Robert Downey Jr. alongside his Marvel co-star Tom Holland garnered $251 million at the box office against a reported budget of $175-192.4 million. Furthermore, the movie received a mere 15% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while critics accused the filmmakers of including stale humor, with some calling it a ‘frenetic, crass kids’ flick.’
But despite the failure of the projects, why did Robert Downey Jr. pick them as the most important movies of his career, even over Iron Man?
Robert Downey Jr. explained why it was difficult to shoot one of the most pivotal film of his career
While explaining why exactly he chose the two movies as the milestones of his career, Downey Jr. revealed how the two projects helped him shape his career in unexpected ways. “Honestly, the two most important films I’ve done in the last 25 years are “The Shaggy Dog,” because that was the film that got Disney saying they would insure me.”
While talking about The Shaggy Dog, the Oppenheimer actor said that it was this movie that helped him land the role of Tony Stark in the 2008 superhero movie Iron Man, that effectively changed the trajectory of his career.
Furthermore, Downey Jr. explained why he feels that Dolittle has a special place in his heart. “Then the second most important film was “Dolittle,” because “Dolittle” was a two-and-a-half-year wound of squandered opportunity.”
While talking about the Tom Holland-starring movie, he revealed that Dolittle was the first movie he worked on after Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame. Moreover, it was the first time since 2014’s The Judge that the actor had played any other role than Iron Man.
Reportedly, after the failure of Dolittle, which was produced by Downey Jr.’s wife Susan, the ensuing events forced the actor and his wife to reconsider their priorities and their closest business advisors. Interestingly, this period of reflection coincided with a deeply personal time for Downey, as his father, independent filmmaker Robert Downey Sr., was on his deathbed and inspired him to take on more meaningful projects moving ahead in his career.
Source: The New York Times
