Moviefone Editorial

Tag: robert downey jr.

  • First Teaser for Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’

    Having famously switched his filmmaking operations to Universal from longtime home Warner Bros. after dissatisfaction with the straight-to-HBO handling of some movies and its treatment of ‘Tenet’, Christopher Nolan has been working away on his next movie, ‘Oppenheimer’.

    Universal, naturally, is going all out to promote this one, including with this first, unusual teaser, which features fragments of footage from the film, some voice-over dialogue referring to its subject matter and an ominous countdown clock.

    Some have speculated that it’s to the release date – but not in America, as those figures don’t sync up. But with the movie opening in Singapore the day before its Stateside release, it makes more sense.

    Nolan here is adapting the Pulitzer Prize-winning book ‘American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer’ by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. It chronicles how he was part of the infamous Manhattan Project and played a key role in the creation of atomic weapons, yet later came to have complicated feelings about their deadly power. He lobbied for international control of nuclear power and opposed the creation of the even more destructive hydrogen bomb.

    Cillian Murphy, a Nolan regular, plays Oppenheimer, who is glimpsed briefly in this first footage.

    Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in 'Oppenheimer' written and directed by Christopher Nolan.
    Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer’ written and directed by Christopher Nolan.

    Emily Blunt is playing his wife, biologist, and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, with Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project and Robert Downey, Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

    Florence Pugh will portray psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, who turns out to have a hidden agenda, while Benny Safdie plays theoretical physicist Edward Teller. Michael Angarano is physicist Robert Serber and Josh Hartnett plays pioneering American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence.

    Also among the cast? Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Scott Grimes, Dylan Arnold, Olivia Thirlby, Olli Haaskivi, Matthew Modine, Gustaf Skarsgård (yes, another son of Stellan, and aged between Alexander and Bill), Jason Clarke, David Dastmalchian, Alden Ehrenreich, Casey Affleck, Tony Goldwyn, Alex Wolff, Josh Peck, James D’Arcy, David Krumholtz…

    Look, at this point it’s probably easier just to list the people who aren’t in Nolan’s latest. It might be the first end credits crawl in years where the cast runs for a longer time than the effects teams.

    ‘Oppenheimer’ sees Nolan tackling a historical subject again, and one that surely offers the opportunity for plenty of his terse dialogue and large-canvas visions. It won’t surprise you to learn that it has been shot and be and released on 65mm IMAX and large-format film. Providing the beautiful footage is another repeat Nolan colleague, director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema, while composer Ludwig Göransson returns after scoring ‘Tenet’. A pulse-pounding biopic thriller with high stakes certainly feels like it could work well for Nolan.

    ‘Oppenheimer’ will be in theaters here from July 21st.

    Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in 'Oppenheimer' written and directed by Christopher Nolan.
    Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer’ written and directed by Christopher Nolan.
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  • Robert Downey Jr. Plans ‘Sherlock Holmes’ TV Spinoffs

    Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law
    (L to R) Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in 2011’s ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.’

    Sherlock Holmes is a character that has been brought to the screen so many times at this point, it’s a wonder that TV and movie creators can find a fresh take on the idea. Robert Downey Jr. famously played the genius detective in two movies and if he has his way, there will be some Holmes extensions in the works at HBO Max.

    This all stems from an interview that the actor/producer gave back in 2020 to Fast Company, where he explained he was looking to oversee some new developments in the Holmes world. “At this point, we really feel that there is not a mystery-verse built out anywhere, and Conan Doyle is the definitive voice in that arena, I think, to this day,” the star said about future installments of ‘Sherlock Holmes’. “So, to me, why do a third movie if you’re not going to be able to spin off into some real gems of diversity and other times and elements?”

    Influenced, of course, by his decade spent working with the Marvel team, he’s now looking to apply that ethos to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation. While the pandemic appears to have gotten in the way of plans for the shows, Deadline reports that HBO Max now has two potential spin-offs in early development.

    They would extend the world created in Guy Ritchie’s two ‘Holmes’ movies, the 2009 original and 2011 sequel ‘A Game of Shadows’. The movies also starred Jude Law as Dr. Watson, but the shows are unlikely to feature the main duo.

    Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes
    Robert Downey Jr. in 2009’s ‘Sherlock Holmes.’

    Instead, the blueprints call for the shows to be built upon characters that will be introduced in the third movie. There’s just one slight hitch to an otherwise solid idea: that movie has yet to be made.

    Though ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Rocketman’ director Dexter Fletcher remains attached to handle the movie, it has been delayed more than once, partly by the pandemic and partly by its star’s busy schedule. Still, both Downey and his chosen director have said that they intend to get the movie in production. And this news could signal some forward movement.

    It’s also not surprising to see HBO Max looking to expand another movie franchise on TV – it has seen big success with ‘Peacemaker’, which James Gunn based on the John Cena character from ‘The Suicide Squad’. And there are also shows in the works that will build on characters from ‘Dune’ (the Bene Gesserit sisterhood) and ‘The Batman’ (Colin Farrell’s Penguin character).

    Any ‘Holmes’ show would, of course, have to differentiate itself from the long history of Sherlock TV – besides the BBC’s successful ‘Sherlock’ and CBS’ long-running series ‘Elementary’ – there have been all sorts of variations on the basic concept of the crafty character.

    But with the backing of Downey Jr. and producing partner Susan Downey, the ‘Holmes’ shows could end up being a fun new take… Assuming they can finally get to work on the third movie. The game’s afoot!

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  • Robert Downey Jr. and Shane Black Reunite for ‘Play Dirty’

    Kilmer and Downey with guns
    (L to R) Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. in director Shane Black’s ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.’

    Director Shane Black and star Robert Downey Jr., who have worked together on ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ and ‘Iron Man 3’ are teaming back up again for an intriguing new prospect: they’re developing films and TV series based on Donald E. Westlake’s criminal character, Parker.

    Working with ‘Kiss Kiss’ producer Joel Silver, the pair is first looking to make ‘Play Dirty’, which will see Downey Jr. playing Parker. He’s a professional thief who approaches his job with a straightforward, no-nonsense work ethic. He’s a craftsman. He’s brutal, brilliant. He’s also deadly. He’s whatever it takes to get the money and get away clean.

    The Parker character was first introduced in 1962’s ‘The Hunter’ from Pocket Books (with Westlake writing under the pseudonym of Richard Stark) and featured in 23 other titles from the author, become a popular, hardboiled staple.

    And this is far from the first time that the character has been brought to screens: he’s either been directly used or has inspired roles for actors including Lee Marvin (in 1967’s ‘Point Blank’), Jim Brown (1968’s ‘The Split’), Robert Duvall (in 1973’s ‘The Outfit’), Peter Coyote (in 1983’s ‘Slayground’), Mel Gibson (in 1999’s ‘Payback’) and Jason Statham in 2013’s ‘Parker’.

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    Yet the prospect of Black and Downey Jr. getting back together to make this new movie is even more exciting. Black wrote the script with Charles Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi, the latter of whom he previously worked with on ‘The Nice Guys’.

    Amazon has naturally been quick to snap up the prospect of more than one film and some TV spin-offs from the duo, though Deadline’s report doesn’t specify how much this deal covers.

    Let’s not forget that Black is partly responsible for Downey’s presence as the lynchpin of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Years before they collaborated to winning effect on ‘Iron Man 3’, Black taking a chance on a then-career-troubled Downey for ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ is one of the reasons that Jon Favreau and the Marvel team thought of him for Tony Stark.

    Plus, this puts them squarely back in the crime caper/thriller territory that ‘Kiss Kiss’ explored so well. As for Silver, he’s worked with Downey Jr. on several movies, including ‘Gothika’ the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ outings and, stretching back to the 1980s, cult classic comedy ‘Weird Science’. His collaboration connection with Black is just as deep, if not more so, for movies such as the ‘Lethal Weapon’ series and ‘The Last Boy Scout.’ In addition to ‘Kiss Kiss’, he also produced ‘The Nice Guys’.

    Downey Jr. is typically busy right now – he’s got a role (along with, it seems half of Hollywood) in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ and is co-starring for director Park Chan-wook in ‘The Sympathizer,’ which will see him playing multiple parts. Plus, assuming it actually happens, there’s a third ‘Sherlock Holmes’ somewhere on the horizon.

    After critical and commercial misses such as ‘Doolittle’, it’s reassuring to see Downey Jr. back with two of his best collaborators. No word yet on when ‘Play Dirty’ may steal into theaters.

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  • Kenneth Branagh Added to Oppenheimer

    Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in 'Oppenheimer' written and directed by Christopher Nolan.
    Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer’ written and directed by Christopher Nolan.

    At this point, if you wrote up a list of people who aren’t in the cast for Christopher Nolan’s new film ‘Oppenheimer’, that inventory would be shorter than rounding up who is in it. And, even with cameras now rolling on the atomic bomb drama, Nolan isn’t finished adding people, with Kenneth Branagh, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz and Michael Angarano.

    On the heels of the latest casting news comes a first look at the movie – or at least the man playing the title character – Cillian Murphy is seen here sporting a hat and cigarette as Robert Oppenheimer, one of the scientists behind the bomb.

    Nolan here is adapting the Pulitzer Prize-winning book ‘American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer’ by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. It chronicles how he was part of the infamous Manhattan Project and played a key role in the creation of atomic weapons, yet later came to have complicated feelings about their deadly power. He lobbied for international control of nuclear power and opposed the creation of the even more destructive hydrogen bomb.

    Emily Blunt is playing his wife, biologist, and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, with Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project and Robert Downey, Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

    Florence Pugh will portray psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, who turns out to have a hidden agenda, while Benny Safdie plays theoretical physicist Edward Teller. Michael Angarano is physicist Robert Serber and Josh Hartnett plays pioneering American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence.

    Also among the cast? Rami Malek, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Dylan Arnold,
    Olli Haaskivi and Matthew Modine, but their characters have yet to be announced.

    Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in 'Death on the Nile.' Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.
    Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in ‘Death on the Nile.’ Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.

    We also don’t know who Branagh will be playing, but this marks his third time working with the director, after ‘Dunkirk’ and ‘Tenet’. Still, the award for Most Frequent Collaborator surely goes to Murphy, who appears in ‘Batman Begins’, ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, ‘Inception’ and ‘Dunkirk’.

    ‘Oppenheimer’ sees Nolan tackling a historical subject again, and one that surely offers the opportunity for plenty of his terse dialogue and large-canvas visions. It won’t surprise you to learn that it’ll be shot and released on 65mm IMAX and large-format film. Providing the beautiful footage is another repeat Nolan colleague, director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema, while composer Ludwig Göransson returns after scoring ‘Tenet’. A pulse-pounding thriller with high stakes certainly feels like it could work well for Nolan.

    For the first time in several movies, this won’t be released by Warner Bros. Following the less-than gigantic (partly because of its slot during the pandemic) box office for ‘Tenet’, Nolan and producing partner Emma Thomas opened this one up to rival studios, with Universal winning the rights to distribute, handing down a July 21, 2023 theatrical release date.

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  • Robert Downey Jr. Reveals He Was Busted For Smoking Pot on First Visit to Disneyland

    Marvel/Disney

    Robert Downey Jr. was named a Disney Legend today at Disney’s D23 Expo and shared a slightly scandalous story of the first time he visited Disneyland.

    “Here’s a bit of trivia for you, the very first time I went to Disneyland I was transported to another place…within moments of being arrested,” he said. “I was brought to a surprisingly friendly processing center. Given a stern warning and returned, if memory serves, to one very disappointed group chaperone. I would like to make amends for whoever had to contain me for smoking pot in the gondola without a license.”

    He jokingly added that of course “pot smoking licenses for the gondola,” or any other theme park attractions, are not available. He concluded by confessing, “I’ve been sitting on that shame for a while and I’m just going to release it here. That’s a load off.”

    He didn’t give a specific date when this happened, but the “Iron Man” star dropped out of high school in 1982 to pursue acting full time. And the Disneyland Gondolas (aka the Skyway) closed down in 1994.

    “Iron Man” and “Jungle Book” director Jon Favreau was also named a Disney Legend today, as were Ming-Na (the voice of “Mulan”) and composer Hans Zimmer, whose many scores include “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” and 1994’s “The Lion King.”

    For more coverage from the D23 Expo 2019, click here!

    [Via Variety]

  • Dwayne Johnson Tops Forbes’ Highest Paid Actors List for 2019

    Dwayne Johnson Tops Forbes’ Highest Paid Actors List for 2019

    Dwayne Johnson in Fast and Furious 6
    Universal Pictures

    We can smell what The Rock is cooking — cash, and lots of it.

    Dwayne Johnson topped the annual Forbes list of the world’s 10 highest-paid actors, earning $89.4 million between June 1, 2018 and June 1, 2019.

    The rest of the list is dominated by “Avengers” stars, including Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth. “Avengers: Endgame” became the highest grossing movie of all time (finally beating “Avatar”) and its stars were compensated accordingly.

    Forbes noted that, in addition to his hefty movie salaries (he’s getting a personal record $23.5 million for “Jumanji: The Next Level”), he is paid $700,000 per episode for HBO’s “Ballers” and seven figures in royalties for his line of clothing, shoes and headphones with Under Armour.

    Here are the world’s top 10 highest-paid actors of 2019:

    1. Dwayne Johnson
    Earnings: $89.4 million

    2. Chris Hemsworth
    Earnings: $76.4 million

    3. Robert Downey Jr.
    Earnings: $66 million

    4. Akshay Kumar
    Earnings: $65 million

    5. Jackie Chan
    Earnings: $58 million

    6. Bradley Cooper
    Earnings: $57 million

    6. Adam Sandler
    Earnings: $57 million

    8. Chris Evans
    Earnings: $43.5 million

    9. Paul Rudd
    Earnings: $41 million

    10. Will Smith
    Earnings: $35 million

  • ‘Sherlock Holmes 3’ Taps ‘Rocketman’ Director Dexter Fletcher

    ‘Sherlock Holmes 3’ Taps ‘Rocketman’ Director Dexter Fletcher

    Warner Bros.

    It’s elementary for “Rocketman” director Dexter Fletcher, who has been hired to helm “Sherlock Holmes 3.”

    Variety reports that Fletcher will take over the franchise from Guy Ritchie, who directed 2009’s “Sherlock Holmes” and its follow-up 2011’s “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.”

    A third movie has always been planned, but was put on hold due to star Robert Downey Jr.’s busy schedule in various Marvel movies.

    Jude Law is also expected to reprise his role as Watson.

    Fletcher famously took over directing “Bohemian Rhapsody” after Bryan Singer left the project mid-production (though he did not receive credit as a director due to DGA rules). His most recent film, the Elton John biopic “Rocketman,” opened in May.

    “Sherlock Holmes 3” is slated to hit theaters December 21, 2021.

  • Robert Downey Jr. Will Make a Ridiculous Amount of Money From ‘Avengers: Endgame’

    Robert Downey Jr. Will Make a Ridiculous Amount of Money From ‘Avengers: Endgame’

    Marvel Studios

    As “Avengers: Endgame” continues to dominate the box office, one of its stars is racking up an insane amount of money, too.

    According to a breakdown from The Hollywood Reporter (which contains some SPOILERS from “Endgame,” so click the link at your own risk), Robert Downey Jr. is poised for a monster payday once all the “Endgame” receipts are tallied. The actor — who helped launch the MCU when he debuted as the titular hero in 2008’s “Iron Man,” and has served as one of its most famous faces since — has long had “a unique financial arrangement” with Marvel Studios, THR reports, that allows him to receive a cut of any of his MCU films’ backend proceeds.

    Sources who spoke to THR estimate that Downey raked in at least $75 million from “Avengers: Infinity War,” which went on to make $2.048 billion at the worldwide box office. With “Endgame” breaking records left and right and climbing the all-time international and worldwide charts, it stands to reason that that flick will surpass “Infinity War”‘s total, and Downey will walk away with an even more staggering paycheck.

    Apparently, it’s that very box office success (and Downey’s increasingly-large cut of it) that has made such a lucrative backend deal an anomaly among RDJ’s fellow MCU actors. THR reports that Marvel previously allowed its stars to start taking backend proceeds after its films made $500 million; that threshold later became $700 million, and is currently set at $1.5 billion. (Marvel and its actors’ reps declined to comment on those figures to THR.)

    It’s not yet clear just how much “Endgame” will make, but it’s certainly expected to top that latter figure — sooner rather than later. Time for the MCU stars to get bigger wallets for all their extra cash.

    [via: The Hollywood Reporter]

  • Robert Downey Jr.’s 11 Best Movies That Aren’t From Marvel

    Robert Downey Jr.’s 11 Best Movies That Aren’t From Marvel

  • New ‘Perry Mason’ Series Starring Matthew Rhys Picked Up by HBO

    New ‘Perry Mason’ Series Starring Matthew Rhys Picked Up by HBO

    FX

    Got HBO? The new “Perry Mason” series starring Matthew Rhys of “The Americans” has just been picked up the by the premium cable channel.

    The series, which is produced by Robert Downey, Jr., will  be set in 1932 Los Angeles.

    The character was created by Erle Stanley Gardner and first appeared in a 1933 book: He became appointment television when played by Raymond Burr in the TV series than ran from 1957 – 1966.

    Unlike that long-running classic show, this will be a limited series.

    It will trace the origins of the legendary criminal defense lawyer, who begins the show as a low-rent private investigator living paycheck to paycheck. He is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and his broken marriage. A kidnapping case galvanizes Mason into a relentless pursuit of the truth.

    The project was developed in 2016 with the plan for Downey Jr. to star as Mason and with Nic Pizzolatto writing. Sadly, the “Avengers” star’s busy film schedule prevented him taking on the lead role in a TV series. And Pizzolatto returned to Season 3 of “True Detective.”

    The show has also landed a director in HBO veteran Tim Van Patten, who directed the pilot for “Game of Thrones” several episodes of “The Sopranos.”

    We imagine, if the show is a hit, it will leave the door open for more Perry Mason installments.

    [Via Variety]