As has been very well documented in the past, Robert Downey Jr.'s life and career have had a lot of ups and downs. Fortunately for Downey Jr. and his fans worldwide, the talented actor overcame his demons and beat the odds.
Since Downey Jr. first became the Marvel Cinematic Universe's main star, the actor has revealed his complicated emotions about Iron Man's helmet. On the other hand, it turns out that Downey Jr.'s father's opinion about his son being Iron Man was pretty definitive and negative.
Who Was Robert Downey Jr.'s Dad?
In Hollywood, there are many examples of stars who've followed in their famous parent's footsteps. In his way, Robert Downey Jr. is an example of that since his father rose to fame as a filmmaker during the '60s.
Even though Downey Jr. and his dad Robert Downey Sr. both worked making movies, their outputs were very different. During the late-'60s and early-'70s, Downey Sr. made his two most famous movies, Putney Swope and Greaser's Palace.
In the past, the film scholar Wheeler Winston Dixon summed up Downey Sr.'s work as a filmmaker and actor in a fascinating way. According to Dixon, Downey Sr.'s movies were "strictly take-no-prisoners affairs, with minimal budgets and outrageous satire, effectively pushing forward the countercultural agenda of the day."
Most fans of Downey Jr.'s films have never even heard of Putney Swope and Greaser's Palace. In fact, there are a lot of cinephiles who do not know about those films' legacies as well.
In 2016, Downey Sr.'s importance as a filmmaker was enshrined forever when one of his movies was chosen for an amazing honor. Since it was deemed to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", Putney Swope was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
In addition to being a filmmaker, Downey Sr. also was the father of Downey Jr. and his older sister Allyson Downey. Sadly, Downey Sr. struggled with addiction just like his famous son publicly did.
Wanting to pay tribute to his father, Downey Jr. worked on a documentary about his father titled Sr. which was released on Netflix. While talking to The Associated Press about the documentary, Downey Jr. spoke about what the project did for him.
“My dad and I are pretty flawed dudes. It was a way to put something between us in our own relationship and closure. I didn’t know that it would be the quickest way to the heart of things. It’s 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.”
What Did Robert Downey Jr.'s Dad Think About Iron Man?
By the time Robert Downey Sr. passed away, his son had become one of the most famous movie stars of his generation.
During Downy Jr.'s career, he has starred in several acclaimed and successful projects. Still, there is no doubt that Downey Jr.'s biggest claim to fame has been his tenure playing the superhero Iron Man and his alter ego Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Thanks almost entirely to his tenure bringing that superhero to life, Downey Jr. has managed to amass a truly impressive fortune, to say the least. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Downey Jr. has a $300 million fortune as of this writing.
On top of Downey Jr. becoming rich and famous thanks to playing Iron Man on the big screen, he has also managed to entertain millions of fans for years. Considering everything that portraying Iron Man has allowed his son to accomplish, it seems like Downey Jr.'s father should be proud.
Thanks to the aforementioned documentary Sr., the truth about what Robert Downey Jr.'s father thought about Iron Man has been revealed. During Downey Jr.'s interview with The Associated Press, he revealed what Robert Downey Sr. thought about his son portraying Iron Man.
"I did a bunch of the Marvel stuff and he goes, ‘Uh uh. Yeah, bomb, bomb. Jokes. Funny robots. I get it.’ I went, ‘Hm. Wow. OK,’"
Since there are lots of people who don't like Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, it is fair that Downey Sr. isn't a fan of the series. "However, being dismissive of a movie series your son spent years working on seems surprising.
As it turns out, Downey Jr.'s work as Iron Man isn't the only aspect of his career that his father wasn't impressed by. As Downey Jr. also explained to The Associated Press, his father had extremely high standards in terms of what makes a good movie.
"I hate to say it, but he was a bit of a snob." Downey Jr. then went on to say that his father didn't like another one of his projects. "Susan [Downey Jr.'s wife] and I did a couple Sherlock movies. He was like, ‘Cute.’"
While Downey Jr.'s Sherlock movies were very popular with the masses, they were designed to be popcorn movies similar to his MCU films. With that in mind, it may seem like Downey Sr. simply didn't like blockbuster movies.
After Downey Jr. starred in the 1992 movie Chaplin, his portrayal of the silent era movie star received wide acclaim. Downey Jr.'s performance as Charlie Chaplin netted him several awards including a BAFTA, and he was nominated for an Oscar as well.
No matter how much the majority of Downey Jr.'s peers thought his acting in Chaplin was worthy of praise, his father didn't feel the same way. As Downey Jr. explained to The Associated Press, Downey Sr. "thought ‘Chaplin’ was too episodic".
At this point, it might seem like Downey Sr. was impossible to please, and it is understandable why anyone would think that. However, that isn't the case. Instead, as Downey Jr. revealed during the same interview, his father did like some of his work.
During Downey Jr.'s interview with The Associated Press, he only mentioned one of his movies that his father actually respected. Considering Downey Jr. and Downy Sr.'s real-life pasts, it seems interesting that his father was a fan of his work portraying an addict in Less Than Zero.
"I remember that he thought ‘Less Than Zero’ was good." The only other one of Downey Jr.'s artistic endeavors that he mentioned his dad liked is the time he sang a song when he was still a young man. "He really liked that German song I sang when I was 15."
