Oppenheimer Star Robert Downey Jr Was Worried Playing Iron Man For 11 Years Might Affect His Acting Skills

After playing Iron Man for 11 years, Robert Downey Jr admitted feeling worried about the impact the role will have on his acting prowess. The Hollywood actor made his debut as the Marvel superhero in 2008 released Iron Man. He left the franchise after his character was killed in Avengers: Endgame. The risk of playing the same character in nine MCU movies for over a decade was one of his biggest concerns and making a transition to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer wasn’t an easy task.

During a recent interaction with New York Times Magazine, Robert Downey Jr recalled the time when the filmmaker asked him to get rid of his usual go-to things. He explained Christopher Nolan wanted him to work on those muscles which he hadn’t used in a decade. Robert Downey Jr stated, “I knew there was a point where Chris Nolan was endorsing, let’s work those other muscles, but let’s do it while rendering you devoid of your usual go-to things.” For the Iron Man fame being charming, unpredictable, and talking fast were usual tactics to counter a scene. But the Oppenheimer director pushed the actor to refrain from using his go-to ways.

Robert Downey Jr essays the role of Lewis Strauss, the chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission. The movie enabled the Iron Man actor to flex his acting muscles, the inspiration of which came from his real life “I connected it to my own grandfather, who would have been a contemporary of his,” he confirmed.

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“I was thinking, how can I make Strauss’s competitiveness with Oppenheimer personal,” the actor said of his main objective.

Robert Downey Jr feels happy that he made the transition from dominating the box office to playing a real-life character. “Coming from that other place, entering the box-office-weekend-dominating place, then going into this spot now where I’m happy that I’m in this quality product — I’m happy that I regained my connection with a more purist approach to making movies,” he expressed to The New York Times Magazine.

The promotion of Oppenheimer has kick-started in full swing and the actor recently took a brief break from the press to hang out with the Oppenheimer cast in NYC. Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt were a part of the close-knit get-together. Robert Downey Jr shared a series of rooftop images of the outing on social media.

Oppenheimer marks the maiden biographical thriller of Christopher Nolan which release on July 21.