Robert Downey Jr’s performance as Admiral Strauss in Oppenheimer took the world by surprise. His acting was absolutely remarkable and fans could not begin to imagine the amount of effort he put into the role to make it as brilliant as it turned out. His work as an actor has never been questioned because of his iconic role as Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, that hasn’t always led him to have only successful movies.
Robert Downey Jr at the premiere of Oppenheimer
He has done movies that are both good and bad. Some made profited through the roof while others were projects even the actor was disappointed by. The movie that changed the course of his career did not seem that way for so long because of the heavy rising competition, one which Christopher Nolan set.
Robert Downey Jr Was Ready To Succumb To Christian Bale’s Franchise
Robert Downey Jr revealed that while he was filming Iron Man, both he and Jon Favreau had movies that failed drastically. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang as well as Zathura both came out on the same weekend. Unfortunately, both did much worse than what they had expected. After a wonderful screentest, Downey and Favreau joined forces for Iron Man. The success of that movie was one they had desperately been needing. Incidentally enough, many of his friends believed that their success would be short-lived.
Christian Bale
“When Iron Man came out, everyone that knew me and loved me said, ‘This will do until ‘The Dark Knight’ comes out.”
Iron Man wasn’t the only movie that revolutionized the superhero genre. Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale had a massive hand in doing so as well. The Dark Knight and Iron Man both came out in the same summer with the former following the latter. However, none of his friends believed that Iron Man would make it so far because of the excitement fans, as well as his loved ones, had for The Dark Knight trilogy.
Also Read: Christian Bale Nearly Stole Major Movie From Matt Damon That Won 5 Oscar Nominations
Cillian Murphy Did Not Audition For Scarecrow
Oppenheimer was not the first time Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan had teamed up, in fact, it was the sixth time. The duo met when Murphy was auditioning for Batman Begins. The director added that he had first auditioned for the role of Bruce Wayne but both of them knew somewhere that he was not right for the role of Batman. Although that did not mean that Murphy was immediately sent home.
Cillian Murphy
“His test was so exciting that the studio was okay for me to cast him as the villain.”
Nolan may not have seen him as Batman, but he understood that his potential as an actor was far greater than that. He loved the audition regardless and offered Murphy the role of Scarecrow. He was more than impressed by his performance. And now, after two decades, Nolan finally got the opportunity to cast him as his protagonist.
Source: The Wired
Christian Bale’s The Dark Knight was one movie that Robert Downey Jr felt could tamper with the success that Iron Mad had. Read More