Is Robert Downey Jr done as a movie star after Dolittle???

Oh honey, he also that did colossal flop with Nicole Kidman (Fur 2006) - that can't have helped his career.

If you're putting the nails into his coffin, it's worth a mention...

Oh honey, I'm not giving him a free pass or anything (because he slept with Nicole in Fur) but he did give us the gif below, which I've used quite a few times now.

I think he's cemented his reputation and his position is secured (unless of course, he does another flop of course with Nicole...)

He’ll still have plenty of more chances.

No one gives a shit about Dolittle nowadays. It was a massive flop but it seems most of the stink from it is clinging to Stephen Gaghan, and indeed most of the production problems stem from him. Downey, Jr. didn't come out smelling like roses, but he wouldn't be the first A-lister to have a bomb attached to his career and still stay on top.

That's fair, as it was obviously something of a passion project and Downey's producing ventures haven't exactly borne a whole lot of fruit (remember The Judge was supposed to be Downey's big awards breakthrough post-MCU success, and we saw how that went). But I just feel like Dolittle hasn't really stuck to him the way other flops sometimes can (i.e. Travolta and Battlefield Earth). Maybe part of it is the pandemic, maybe part of it is that we're in a different era now where movie stars aren't as reliably bankable nowadays and it's all about the IP, maybe part of it is that the film itself is so unmemorable in its badness that it just doesn't have staying power in the cultural mind aside from the name. But we're in agreement that this hasn't ruined Downey's standing.

Yeah, as I said, we'll see if he's still a box-office draw with Sherlock Holmes 3, but will it ever happen??
I saw it listed on IMBD with a director attached, Dexter Fletcher (great director, I really liked Rocketman and he helped finishing Bohemian Rhapsody), but there's no hint at any shooting start date or even beginning of production.

It's gonna be tough to pull off for a man approaching sixty.

He's had a couple close calls with PTA (Inherent Vice and a Pinocchio project that seems to have died off) so I would like to see them eventually figure out a way to work together.

He was the lead in two franchises, but has he ever been the lead of a hit non-MCU/non-Sherlock movie? We're talking about a guy who's been in the industry since the early 80s. At this point, I think it's likely Downey Jr. just has really questionable taste in projects.

Good discussion here in this thread ( I will be honest here, I'm sorta conflicted ). My favorite Downey role still remains to be David Fincher's Zodiac (which was the start of the Downey Jr come back tour)
And I'm on record that Downey Jr has (hands down) the best / most successful comeback in Hollywood (of all time). He was a complete train wreck, junkie/crack head & late night punch line for quite some time. Very glad he turned his life around and has become mega successful ( I read online recently that his net worth is north of $300 million ) Downey & his family are set for life.

That being said , I can't say I'm that big of a fan of him overall.
He frequently comes across as a smug prick in many interviews over the years. For example, he dissed lower budget / independent films in an interview with Entertainment Weekly Radio (while promoting Avengers: Age of Ultron ).

Because they’re exhausting and sometimes they suck and then you just go, ‘What was I thinking?’ But I’m interested in doing all different kinds of movies. Sometimes the little movies are the ones that wind up taking the most out of you because they’re like, ‘Hey, man, we’re just running a couple of days behind. Do you think you can stay through your birthday and then come back on the fourth of July. And, by the way, but, like, the crew—can you pay for the craft services? And, oh, by the way, man, when we go to Sundance, it’s like, can we just sit you in a chair and you can sell this for six days in a row so that we’ll make 180 bucks when it opens in one theater? God, this is so powerful what we’re doing. What do you think of the movie? You saw it last night?'”
“I thought it’s mediocre.”

“Yeah, isn’t it the greatest?! Man, everyone’s an artist here.”

“Actually, most of you are kind of inexperienced and lame.”


www.indiewire.com/2015/05/what-robert-downey-jr-got-wrong-in-his-172-words-about-independent-film-62478/

I won't deny his comeback success of course but damn he seems like such a cocky/arrogant little twerp at times. I don't give a shit if Sherlock Holmes 3 ever gets made tbh.

I don’t think he said anything wrong about working on independent movies tbh and I’d guess many other established actors agree with him. That’s not to say they don’t have their benefit, but end product aside, the experience is comparable to staying at a hostel vs a luxury hotel.

And on a side note, it kind of irritates me how some always put independent films on a pedestal above studio films. Not that there aren’t a lot of greatindependent films, but there are quite a lot of crappy ones too.

Yeah, the dude's got enough money to buy a fucking continent. He could make a great third act of his career exclusively out of meaty supporting roles and have a hell of a run. I'm dying to see another Wayne Gale, Jim Barris, or Paul Avery come out of him.