What, me worry??
Robert Downey Jr. was box office poison for a few years. I remember when he ws facing yet another drug charge a few years ago (cocaine and heroin...that old chestnut...) and the court of popular opinion seemed to be, "Let him rot in jail for awhile, maybe that will teach him a lesson...." Well, I hate the court of popular opinion and it's great to see it proved WRONG once again! Downey Jr. is a really fine actor, one of a handful of actors who are not over-hyped to within an inch of their lives, and that makes him ready for........the man in the iron mask. You really have to tip your hat to him, he has come a long way in the last ten years.
It was very smart to cast him as Tony Stark. The guy is a lot like Toby Maguire; both are excellent actors, and both wear their hearts on their sleeves. However, Downey is dangerous. He has a side to him, like a young Albert Finney or Richard Harris. Without him as the film's center, without his insouciant sideways smile and sardonic grin, the movie would be just another blow-em-up-over-the-top Hollywood spectacle. But the movie is good.....quite good in fact.
Downey's soul now belongs to the studios, at least for the forseeable future. I am sure he is contractually obligated to do Iron Man 2, 3, 4 and 5. I attended an opening day screening at a theatre in lower Manhattan and most shows that day were sold out. it will undoubtedly be the number one box office attraction until the next BATMAN installment comes around. If Downey has another fall from grace during the upcoming years, and I really hope he doesn't, it will be very interesting to note public reaction now that he represents a franchise.
I don't watch SNL too much these days. I once viewed it pretty religiously, but I got older, and SNL has always skewed demographically towards an 18-30 male demographic. A couple of weeks ago, I was hanging out with my nephew on a saturday night and SNL came on so we watched it. Ashley Ketchup was the guest host. Apparently he is a young actor, graced with some comedic talent. Plus, I hear he is married to an older actress of some renown, Demi Glaze. Anyway...we were chatting, hanging out....until Gnarls Barkley came out and sang "Run". The group completely re-energized the show, which had been lackluster until that point! When I stopped watching SNL many moons ago, there were very few bands that could come out and change the entire tenor of the show with their performances. One was Neil Young, who sang "Keep on Rocking in the Free World" in 1989. Another was the late, great Roy Orbison. He came out and had the entire audience under his gaze when he sang "Crying" with Dennis Hopper as guest host. Of course there have been others. Elvis Costello during the second or third season, when he changed his playlist at the last minute, Gil Scott Heron, Patti Smith, Nirvana, David Bowie. But it seems these days, when you have people like Ashley Simpson performing.....well, you understand. I am nostalgic, and nostalgia is nothing but melancholic by nature.......
