Robert Downey Jr. Feared MCU Would Affect His Acting Skills For Oppenheimer

When the name Robert Downey Jr. comes up, more often than not, it's going to be in reference to one thing: Iron Man. The legendary actor resurrected his career — and helped kick off the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it — when he donned the persona of Tony Stark in "Iron Man" a decade and a half ago. Since that first introduction, Downey Jr. has portrayed Stark a total of ten times (not including pictures and flashbacks) and has become synonymous with his Marvel character and the entire cinematic universe he helped to launch.

When Downey Jr. ended his tenure as Stark back in 2019, it was hard to imagine him playing any other role but the charismatic Avenger we all know and love. And yet, slowly but surely, the actor has carved his way into other acting roles, the latest of which was as Lewis Strauss, the antagonistic politician in Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster film, "Oppenheimer."

In a recent conversation with the New York Times, an interviewer asked Downey Jr. if he was concerned about the effect that a decade-plus spent playing a single superhero role might have on such a different historically-based portrayal, to which the actor replied, "Yes. A hundred percent."

Downey Jr. added that he wasn't the only one interested in making sure there wasn't too much Stark in his Strauss. "I knew there was a point where Chris Nolan was endorsing, let's work those other muscles," the actor said, "but let's do it while rendering you devoid of your usual go-to things."

When asked what his "go-to" things are when acting, Robert Downey Jr. had a long and thoughtful response ready to go, explaining, "It's the fast-talking, charming, unpredictable, blah, blah, blah, or as my very close friend Josh Richman, a character actor, used to say, I made my bones playing 'Milo, the offbeat buddy.' And Milo, the offbeat buddy, better be offbeat!"

From there, Downey Jr. tied things back to the challenge of playing a convincing, Stark-less Strauss in "Oppenheimer" by explaining that, during his preparation for the character, he found a new source of inspiration in an individual that he considered synonymous with the period Strauss lived in. "I connected it to my own grandfather," he said, "who would have been a contemporary of [Strauss's]. Robert Elias, whom I never met, was in the U.S. Army, self-made guy." The actor went on to explain how his grandfather helped do the glass for the Chrysler Building, which was in direct competition with the nearby Empire State Building. "So I was thinking," he said, "how can I make Strauss's competitiveness with Oppenheimer personal, and it was: Look at that building over there that's no better than mine getting all the shine!"

Downey Jr. also drew on his own personal experiences and the universal struggle of competitive comparisons to inform the character.

While there are little bits of Tony Stark that peak through at times during the performance, the result of Downey Jr. and Nolan's combined effort is apparent throughout the film. The pair successfully expunge the Stark persona from the actor's behaviors. In its place, they create a unique and believable performance of a bitter, devious, and ultimately pitiable villain who falls into disgrace due to his own over-achieving machinations.