Robert Downey Jr.: ‘Dolittle’ Flop Was a ‘Wound of Squandered Opportunity’
Robert Downey Jr. is recalling the beast of a “squandered opportunity” behind 2020 film “Dolittle.”
The “Oppenheimer” actor revealed to The New York Times magazine that he views “Dolittle” as one of the most important films of his career because of the lesson it taught him. Downey credited the complicated production behind the Disney box office flop for helping him reset his priorities both on and offscreen.
“I finished the Marvel contract and then hastily went into what had all the promise of being another big, fun, well-executed potential franchise in ‘Dolittle,'” Downey said. “I had some reservations. Me and my team seemed a little too excited about the deal and not quite excited enough about the merits of the execution. But at that point I was bulletproof. I was the guru of all genre movies.”
He continued, “The stress it put on my missus [producer Susan Downey] as she rolled her sleeves up to her armpits to make it 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.”
Downey and wife Susan produced “Dolittle” under their Team Downey Productions banner. IndieWire’s David Ehrlich called the film a “$175 million train wreck.” Yet Downey called “Dolittle” one of the most important films of his career, along with “The Shaggy Dog” which helped make him return to Hollywood in 2006 following his infamous substance abuse.
“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,” Downey said. “Then the second most important film was ‘Dolittle,’ because ‘Dolittle’ was a two-and-a-half-year wound of squandered opportunity.”
During the wide-ranging NYT interview, Downey noted that documentary “Sr.” about his father, actor Robert Downey, is actually his most beloved film to date.
“It’s a way for me to let myself know that just because this may be the most important thing that I ever commit to a data card on a camera,” Downey said, “it doesn’t mean it isn’t [expletive] content to everyone else.”