[ SECRET POST #6432 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6432 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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[Another Eden]















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 06 secrets from Secret Submission Post #919.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[erinptah]

RDJ was barely known when Iron Man came out, right? The MCU made him a star.

So I think it's extra-frustrating for fans to see the contrast. If Marvel put in the effort, they could've found a Romani actor who was barely known, and given him the chance to rise to the same stardom. (It's worked with other characters! Ms. Marvel is Iman Vellani's acting debut, and look how fantastic she is. One of the treasures of the current MCU.)

Instead, they're just...going back to a guy who's gotten all that benefit and exposure and opportunity already.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with your conclusion that they should have taken the chance with an unknown Romani actor. I'm just going to put some nuances on the idea that RDJ was "barely known" and that "The MCU made him a star". It's partially true, but the reality is more complex. RDJ had previously (before his downfall) proven that he had the chops to be a lead actor (he already had won several prestigious awards and had been nominated for an Academy Award). He played alongside several A-list actors as a co-star. I think in terms of fame, he would have been a B+ to A(minus) star for a while, heading up towards a straight-up A-list before his addiction caught up to him for a time. So the MCU did make him a star after he had already been on his way to becoming one previously. They took a risk because of his past, not because he was an unknown.

[erinptah]

Yeah, I had an idea it was more complicated than that, but I didn't care enough to look up all the details just for an F!S comment! Thank you for breaking them down so I didn't have to.

[(Anonymous)]

No, that's not right. RDJ was very well known and already a star before he was in Iron Man.

His reputation and career were definitely at a low point due to substance abuse and mental health problems, and Iron Man helped him basically restart his career after that. But he was very much a big name at the time he was cast.

+1

[(Anonymous)]

RDJ has been a star since I was a kid, he was og Brat Pack. Cmon now.

Re: +1

[(Anonymous)]

I think the man was nominated for an Oscar twice before he played Iron Man. So, he was already a star—a faded star, but definitely a star.

[(Anonymous)]

...RDJ had already gone from typical 70s nepo baby to Brat Pack auxiliary member to respected actor with a BAFTA and an Oscar nod under his belt to "one of those troubled grown up child actors" well before he even did his stint on Ally McBeal.

The MCU definitely added the rocket fuel to his big post-prison comeback, but RDJ was far from an unknown when they picked him up.

[(Anonymous)]

Part of the reason they picked Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man was because of his fame before that point. Not just from his acting, but the infamy from his substance abuse and imprisonment. But Weird Science, Less than Zero, and Chaplin all made waves in their own ways. I'd say his stint on Ally McBeal is probably more remembered for his problems with substance use than his acting, but I don't know. His storied career began long before 2008 and includes: being a cast member on Saturday Night Live for a season, Short Cuts, Only You (not a very substantial movie, but he costarred with Marisa Tomei, which was part of the joke in Stark's interactions with Aunt May), Natural Born Killers, U.S. Marshals, The Singing Detective, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, A Scanner Darkly, Zodiac (a very substantial movie, that also starred Mark Ruffalo and Jake Gyllenhaal), and many others. Though he definitely had some low points, I'm not really sure how you thought he was barely known before Iron Man.

[(Anonymous)]

(minor point, but though Zodiac was released before Iron Man, Downey had already been cast in the role at that point)

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

Zodiac was released in 2007, but it was shot from September 2005 to February 2006. Favreau, who came on board as director of Iron Man in April 2006, didn't cast Downey until later in 2006, so while the Iron Man casting news might have had an impact on Zodiac box office, it wouldn't have had any influence on Downey being in Zodiac (well, I suppose it could have influenced the editing, but that does not strike me as something Fincher would be on board with). However, Downey working on a David Fincher film might have had some influence on him being cast in Iron Man. So, I'm going to count it as before.

[(Anonymous)]

RDJ was definitely known, and was on his way back up when he was cast as Iron Man. In particular in my crowd, Tropic Thunder was very popular, and his character's lines were among the most quoted.