Why Robert Downey Jr. Thinks The Shaggy Dog And Dolittle Are Two Of The Most Important Films Of His Career

What Robert Downey, Jr. thinks is important and what the rest of us mere mortals think is important are two very, very different things. Ask anyone plugged into the pop culture zeitgeist about the movie star's biggest roles and you're almost certain to get an earful about his portrayal of Tony Stark throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or his incredibly raw take on journalist Paul Avery in David Fincher's "Zodiac," or even Harry Lockhart in Shane Black's "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang." I'm still embargoed from revealing my thoughts on the upcoming "Oppenheimer," but it's not exactly going out on a limb to say that Christopher Nolan hypothetically gets more out of Downey, Jr. than anyone has in years.

But nope! Ask the man himself the same question and his answer is ... not what you'd expect. In a lengthy profile over at New York Times Magazine, the actor was feeling a little retrospective as he went long about this new post-Marvel phase of his career. With his unique ability to pick and choose whichever projects he wants, Downey, Jr.'s recent acting choices outside the Marvel machine have been a little curious. But out of all of them, he points towards two very specific oddities that stand out the most — the most recent debacle "Dolittle" in 2020, and "The Shaggy Dog" in 2006. Even weirder, however, is that his reasoning actually makes a ton of sense. Hear him out:

"Honestly, the two most important films I've done in the last 25 years are 'The Shaggy Dog,' because that was the film that got Disney saying they would insure me. Then the second most important film was 'Dolittle,' because 'Dolittle' was a two-and-a-half-year wound of squandered opportunity."

Sometimes, good things come from the most unexpected places.

Robert Downey, Jr.'s tumultuous Hollywood career is proof positive that you just never know where life will take you. Throughout its ups and downs, even the most unassuming choices can have wide-ranging effects. For the "Oppenheimer" star, that was the case with two of his most unlikely roles in the last 25 years. His widely-publicized struggle with substance abuse and numerous arrests throughout the '90s and early aughts turned the star-on-the-rise into persona non grata, making his casting as Tony Stark in 2008's "Iron Man" the biggest risk that Marvel has ever taken.

In the New York Times Magazine profile, Downey, Jr. credits the forgettable family film "The Shaggy Dog" — not "Iron Man" — as the movie that finally put him on his comeback tour, alluding to the importance of a studio actually insuring a major actor as a vote of faith in his ability to play by the rules. He goes on to explain how that bookends with his awful experience on "Dolittle," which was wracked by panicky reshoots and a dismal failure to launch at the box office. But in an inspired moment of seeing the forest for the trees, he recognizes how this troubled production led to much bigger and better things to come:

"The stress it put on my missus [wife and producer Susan Downey] as she rolled her sleeves up to her armpits to make ['Dolittle'] even serviceable enough to bring to market was shocking. After that point — what's that phrase? Never let a good crisis go to waste? — we had this reset of priorities and made some changes in who our closest business advisers were."

As he tells it, this is what led to highlights such as the documentary feature about his late father, titled "Sr.," and "Oppenheimer."

It's hard to imagine living in the shadow of one's father in as public a way as Robert Downey, Jr. did with his. Add the younger Downey's years-long struggle with addiction and the failing health of his father, and it almost feels like a miracle that things ultimately turned out the way they did. Downey, Jr. channeled these emotions in the midst of the "Dolittle" mishap into the making of the documentary "Sr.," although he describes this process as an "avoidance mechanism." But even that proved therapeutic, as he explains later in the interview:

"And that whole time, my dad was passing away, and as an avoidance mechanism, I decided to send crews over and get his thoughts on his winter years, and that turned into 'Sr.,' probably the most important thing I will ever do, which was being able to become part object and subject within a piece of 'content.' Which is what it was but to me was meaningful.

Then old Chris Nolan calls, and getting to see the spartan, almost monastic way he approaches this art form, it was like going to the other side of the moon. So I guess my answer to your question is, I'm a dedicated martial-arts student, and it is great to spar with someone who is more dangerous than you."

Succinct and emotional and insightful as only Downey, Jr. can be, this goes a long way towards explaining his perspective on his own life now that he's in a position to look back and take stock of all he's accomplished. In that light, yeah, we'd agree that "The Shaggy Dog" and "Dolittle" were two of the biggest turning points in his career, too. The whole interview is well worth reading in full.