NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Robert Downey Jr. set out to make an objective portrait, a tribute to his father, the underground filmmaking maverick Robert Downey Sr. His dad had other plans.
鈥淭he key point in this is when he goes, 鈥極K, I think we should split into two camps: The (expletive) movie and the one I鈥檓 gonna make,鈥欌�� recalls Downey Jr., laughing. 鈥淚 just go, 鈥楳an, hats off to you, Pops.鈥�
directed by Chris Smith, is a work of father-son harmony more than might be suggested by Downey Sr.鈥檚 typically brusque assertion of filmmaking independence. It鈥檚 a kind of home movie, mostly made by Downey Jr. but with his father鈥檚 own insertions peppered throughout. It鈥檚 a son鈥檚 loving reckoning with his iconoclast father, a freewheeling cult filmmaker whose experimental films gave Downey Jr. his entry into moviemaking and whose outsized personality did much to inform his son, for better and worse. As Downey Jr. puts it, 鈥淢y dad and I are pretty flawed dudes.鈥�
鈥淚t was a way to put something between us in our own relationship and closure. I didn鈥檛 know that it would be the quickest way to the heart of things,鈥� Downey Jr. said in a recent interview by phone from Los Angeles alongside his wife and producing partner Susan Downey. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a little string you pull at, you know. And it winds up pulling you into a rabbit hole that I kind of needed to go down in order to process and ingest the totality of our relationship.鈥�
Downey Sr. after having Parkinson鈥檚. That鈥檚 part of the film; Downey Sr. wanted it to be. 鈥淪r," which debuted Friday on Netflix, was made with the intention of capturing his last days: a last stab at gaining some understanding of him, wrestling with their shared demons and, once again, making a movie together. Some 50 years ago, Downey Jr. made his debut in his father鈥檚 antic 1970 dog pound comedy, 鈥淧ound,鈥� at the age of 5.
鈥淚 have pretty good recall for the entirely of this incarnation, for better or worse,鈥� says Downey Jr., 57. 鈥淭hose films and projects, I have very clear memories of that. I can still see the Mounds bar that was being handed to me. It was my first prop I ever had to deal with.鈥�
Years before he was the Oscar-nominated actor of 鈥淐haplin鈥� or the star of 鈥淚ron Man,鈥� Downey Jr. was, as he says in the film, 鈥渏ust Bob Downey鈥檚 kid for a long time.鈥� Absurdist, spontaneous films like 1971鈥檚 and 1972鈥檚 made the elder Downey a pivotal countercultural provocateur who defined himself outside of the mainstream.
In 鈥沦谤.,鈥� Downey Jr.鈥檚 reverence for his father is easy to see, as is their mutual affection for one another. But that doesn鈥檛 mean the old man was always easy on his famous son. Every film Downey Jr. ever made, he wondered: 鈥淲hat will Sr. think?鈥� Every 15 years or so would he get a thumb鈥檚 up.
鈥淚 hate to say it, but he was a bit of a snob. Susan and I did a couple Sherlock movies. He was like, 鈥楥ute.鈥� I did a bunch of the Marvel stuff and he goes, 鈥楿h uh. Yeah, bomb, bomb. Jokes. Funny robots. I get it.鈥� I went, 鈥楬m. Wow. OK,鈥欌�� Downey Jr. says. 鈥淚 remember that he thought 鈥楲ess Than Zero鈥� was good. He thought 鈥楥haplin鈥� was too episodic. And he really liked that German song I sang when I was 15.鈥�
Again taking his father鈥檚 direction, Downey Jr. sings that song, with panache, in the film. Though it鈥檚 easy, as a viewer, to see how much alike they are, Downey Jr. is more hesitant to define what he inherited from his dad.
鈥淚 did not get his wildly optimistic ongoing super-curiosity,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 would never necessarily marvel at the fact that a duck had baby ducks and those ducks got big.鈥�
Susan Downey disagrees. 鈥淵ou absolutely have your observation of the world. You鈥檙e hyper-aware of what鈥檚 going on around you and comment on it, much as Sr. did,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd I think you deal with anything uncomfortable through humor. This is a secret power that you guys have. There鈥檚 wonderful things that come with that, and then there鈥檚 probably avoidance patterns that are kept up because of that.鈥�
On those 鈥�70s films, Downey Sr.鈥檚 cocaine use was rampant, an environment that surely had an influence on Downey Jr.鈥檚 own struggles later with drug addiction. It鈥檚 a point that Downey Jr. raises in the film: 鈥淲e would be remiss not to discuss its effect on me,鈥� Downey Jr. tells his father. He replies: 鈥淚 would sure love to miss that discussion.鈥�
But 鈥淪r.鈥� is in many ways a portrait of how both Downeys recovered, stabilized and found peace through family. Downey Jr. ascribes a metamorphosis in his father to his second wife, Laura Ernst, who died in 1994, and his third wife, Rosemary Rogers.
鈥淚 can relate to that, too, up until this current administration, the never-ending Susan Downey empire,鈥� says Downey Jr. 鈥淚 just have a lot more gratitude.鈥�
When Downey Sr.鈥檚 health waned, they moved the film鈥檚 editing suite into his bedroom. Susan Downey, too, lost her father, in 2020, to Parkinson鈥檚. 鈥淗e was a saint compared to us Downey boys,鈥� Downey Jr. says. Movies were how they connected. The last film Downey Jr. and his father watched together was the music biopic satire 鈥淲alk Hard.鈥� They laughed their heads off.
Since premiering 鈥淪r.鈥� at the Telluride Film Festival, Downey Jr. has noticed how the film becomes a projection of others' experiences losing a parent. Toward the end of the film, Downey Jr. goes into his father鈥檚 room, with the camera trailing, to find some final answers. 鈥淚 was going to get to the bottom of it for once and all,鈥� he says. Like most sons seeking such definitude, Downey Jr. came out, he felt, emptyhanded.
But in 鈥沦谤.,鈥� the two films each are making ultimately seamlessly meld into one, suggesting a deeper understanding between Jr. and Sr. than either might have readily admitted. There are also ongoing discoveries.
After such an unconventional indoctrination to cinema as a kid, Downey Jr.'s genuine, live-wire performances surely owe something to the frenetic energy he had known on his father鈥檚 sets. 鈥淚 think I had the advantage of it already feeling natural before I came into that quote-unquote industrialized version of entertainment,鈥� Downey Jr. says.
He often found with other directors something just as comfortable and rewarding. He calls Richard Attenborough ("Chaplin") 鈥渁 super wise loving grandfather.鈥� Jon Favreau (鈥淚ron Man鈥�) was 鈥渓ike a brother.鈥� Movies were and still are, Susan Downey says, 鈥渢he family business.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 very odd, too, because we鈥檙e doing this film with now called 鈥楾he Sympathizer鈥� where I鈥檓 doing a lot of different characters. It鈥檚 not experimental at all. It鈥檚 very well-fleshed out. But it鈥檚 kind of reminding me of the Sr. experience," says Downey Jr. "You get dressed up, you try a character and we鈥檙e going to film it.鈥�
Stuck by that fresh realization, Downey Jr. exclaims: 鈥淲e're finally figuring everything out in real time! Live from the Gestalt Therapy Epicenter of Southern California!鈥�
Then he sighs. 鈥淪o I鈥檓 still working for Dad.鈥�
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
