It was interesting to read what I wrote about Robert Downey, Jr 30 years ago.
Chaplin showed that Robert Downey Jr. might have had the potential to be the greatest actor of his generation. How many actors can assay the role of a certified genius and not look like a complete schmuck? Remember Paul Shenar as Orson Welles? James Brolin as Clark Gable? Ray Liotta as Sinatra? Michael Chiklis as Belushi?
When he was just 27, Downey had been nominated for an Oscar for his brilliant turn as one of film’s greatest geniuses. Whereupon he faded into a drug haze and became uninsurable, therefore persona non grata anywhere the major studios were involved. He took whatever work he could get, consisting of forgettable indies and an occasional minor role in a major film, but only if he could knock it off in a day or two, Eric Roberts style. Nobody would count on him to stay sober long enough to play a significant role in a big-budget production.
I wrote about his performance as Chaplin:
Was he just a mediocre actor who was lucky enough to get the career-defining role so early in his life? It isn’t completely rare for an otherwise average performer to deliver a spectacular performance when handed the perfect part. One need only mention Gregory Peck in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Bubba Smith in “Police Academy 6: City Under Siege.” But I don’t think that’s the case with Downey. I think he’s always had a superior level of talent, but his private life has consistently stood between him and greatness.
Based on the “blind pig and truffle” theory, even I can be right once in a while. Downey did finally get his act together, sobering up so completely that Marvel was willing to bet their deep pockets on him in a long-running, multiple-picture role. It would make him a superstar, while affording him the freedom to pick a variety of other roles that proved he was not just a star, but a great actor as well.
You know the rest of the story. He played Sherlock Holmes. He did comedies and dramas. He picked up two more Oscar nominations after his 16-year drought. The former bad boy even became something of a wise éminence grise in Tinseltown.
Diane Lane
Milla Jovovich
Moira Kelly
Nice nudity, great acting performance. A completely boring movie that sucks all the enjoyment out of the subject.
Very true. It managed to make Charlie Chaplin safe, dull and almost family-friendly. He was anything but. It offered no insight into his obsession with underage females (I mean the man was a real-life Humbert Humbert!), nor did it clearly reflect the brilliance of his work, or how edgy it really was in context.
I think the mistake was basing the film on Chaplin’s autobiography rather than relying on a reliable external viewpoint and the contemporaneous newspaper accounts. Charlie made himself seem bland, and he certainly was not.
The only thing really fun, and occasionally leaning toward insightful, was Kevin Kline’s portrayal of Doug Fairbanks and his ability to tell Charlie the hard truths. The script might have worked better if told from Fairbanks’ POV rather than using the trite device of a fictional editor of Charlie’s autobiography
On a similar subject: just how old was Milla when she was nude in Return of the Blue Lagoon? Cuz unlike Brooke Shields, that was for sure no BD
15
Milla was 17 here in Chaplin too?
I’m thinking a lot of the blame for that goes to Richard Attenborough, who is a perfectly competent director but also very old-fashioned. He tried the same recitation approach as with Gandhi, but that works a lot better with sweeping historical events than with character studies.
Agree that RDJ was incredible. He’s one of those guys whose so talented that it can look like he’s not trying, which can be a curse. I was really surprised as his ability to do physical comedy. (One thing I will given Attenborough is his movies usually had excellent performances, probably because he started as an actor.)
RDJ, like Chaplin himself, was one of the world’s greatest non-professional dancers. His control of his body is so good that I have no doubt that he could have had a career as a hoofer or a slight-of-hand magician. He demonstrates more of that graceful agility (comedic when necessary) in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
Olivier had that gift as well.
As a would-be stage actor who was blessed with a beautiful voice and cursed with a clumsy body, I am so jealous of those guys!
Not to get too far off-topic, but a few years ago, RDJ was mentioned as the Hollywood-insider source for some particularly salacious gossip in a “blind item.”
No names were mentioned, but it was “deciphered” that Hayden Panettiere had been “rented out” by her parents as a kid and then worked as a high-priced escort, having developed a taste for rough sex.
Has anyone ever followed up on those stories, or that RDJ was the actual source?
Here
Thanks! Now we know.
Moira Kelly, underrated hooters – shame she got relegated to mom-type parts (One Tree Hill) way too early
Agreed. She is way better actress than people give her credit for. Plus, top-notch hooters.