the man behind ironman

With the opening of the first summer blockbuster this weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to add Robert Downey Jr. to the list of unusual people. In case you haven’t heard Downey has a wild past, and it is good to see him in a mainstream film and get his act together. 

Downey, who describes himself as Buddist-Jewish, began his film career as a child with a small role in the film Pound. He grew up in the properous village of Greenwich New York, however moved with his father to California when his parents divorced. Downey dropped out after two years of high school to pursue acting, and appeared on Saturday Night Live at the age of 20.  Some people consider him a  member of the brat pack, which is a group of actors that appear in a number of movies together, analogous to the previous rat pack, and the modern day frat pack.

Now onto the good stuff, from 1996 to 2001 Downey was arrested a number of times on drug related charges. Rehab proved difficult to him as he explained to a judge in 1999 “it’s like I have a loaded gun in my mouth and my finger’s on the trigger, and I like the taste of the gunmetal”. Downey has also claimed to have been addicted to drugs since the age of 8.

 In an incident in 1996, he was arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine, and an unloaded .357 while driving naked down sunset boulevard. A month later while on parole he was arrested for trespassing into a neighbors home while under the influence of drugs and was found asleep in one of the beds. As a result he was sentenced to 3 years probation and missed one of his mandatory drug tests and had to spend 4 months in jail. This also happened in 1999 and he had to spend nearly a year in jail the subsequent time.

After his release Downey had a role in the popular show Ally Mcbeal. He also earned a golden globe for the role. However things took a turn for the worse the same year when he was arrested by police after a search of his hotel room where he was found to be under the influence of a ilegal substance and in possession of cocaine and valium. While on parole in 2001 police found him wandering in a alley and as a result he was fired frm the show.

However, he made a career comeback in 2004, first releasing his debut musical album the futurist. He was invited to open for Duran Duran as a result but declined. He returned to the big screen in 2005’s Gothika, where 40% of his salary was withheld until completion of the movie as a insurance measure.  He also appeared in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, A Scanner Darkly, Good Night and Good Luck.

This ultimately led to his suprising cast as the main character in Iron Man. The director noted that Downey was the most obvious chocie but that he understood what made the character tick and shared some of the same life experience in the character of Tony Spark. The film required downey to gain 20lbs of muscle in 5 months. The film has been praised by critics, with them also noting that Downey was superb and the contributing factor the film’s success.
Some people may write off drug addicts and say they are worthless and helpless, however Downey, although not a typical case has shown here that thusfar second chances pay off and it seems his career has been revived.