Background Image

...

When You Have A Good Script You're Almost In More Trouble Than When You Have A Terrible Script.

-Robert Downey, Jr.

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

When You Have A

Robert Downey, Jr.

...

When You Have A Good Script You're Almost In More Trouble Than When You Have A Terrible Script.

Views: 69587

Topic

More From Robert Downey, Jr.

I Would Say That Among My Many Huge Emotional Miscalculations Was My Taking A Film Career For Granted. It Is The Most Awesome Privilege To Be Able To Use One's Imagination And Wit, Physicality And Musicality, Conscious Brain And Unconscious Instinct In The Service Of A Work That Has A Chance To Move And Excite And Amuse And Delight People All Over The World, Including Long After We're Dead. What A Noble Calling! And I Felt It Was Just There For Me As A Kind Of Given, Some Sort Of Inherited Birthright-when In Reality It's The Most Magnificent Luxury.

I Don't Need An Iron Man Suit. I'm Already A Weapon Of Mass Seduction.

Violent Ground-acquisition Games Such As Football Are In Fact A Crypto-fascist Metaphor For Nuclear War.

I Don't Like Words Coming Out Of A Character's Mouth That I Adore Because Not Only Is He A Little Bit Duplicitous But He's Kind Of Practical In The Way He Thinks, And He Thinks In Terms Of Everyone's Humanity And How Quickly We Can Go Against What We Think We Meant When We Said It Or What We Believe Or Blah, Blah, Blah.

I Wouldn't Want To See Anything Irreparable Happen, But I Also Like It When Seemingly Irreparable Thing Occur And Men And Women Find A Way To Move Past It.

Nothing's A Break For Me. Not Even The Breaks Are Breaks.

I Saw School Of Rock, And I Was Like, Why Haven't I Worked With Richard Linklater Already? Then By The Time I Got Him I Was Like, I'm Really Pissed Off I Feel Like You Owe Me Some Retroactive Swag. He Gave Me The 10-year Anniversary "dazed And Confused" T-shirt, Which I Still Wear With Relish.

I Used To Be So Convinced That Happiness Was The Goal, Yet All Those Years I Was Chasing After It I Was Unhappy In The Pursuit. Maybe The Goal Really Should Be A Life That Values Honor, Duty, Good Work, Friends And Family.

I Know Very Little About Acting. I'm Just An Incredibly Gifted Faker.

I Don't Drink These Days. I Am Allergic To Alcohol And Narcotics. I Break Out In Handcuffs.

Worrying Is Like Praying For Something You Don't Want To Happen. I Have Such An Overwhelming Sense That If You're In The Right State Of Heart, The Next Right Thing Appears To You.

I Guess The Main Thing Is, You Unconsciously Take Things For Granted, And You Think The Audience Is With You, Because You're With Yourself.

Taking Things For Granted

I Think Life Changes Every Year. This Is Just A Little More Comfortable.

I Think I've Been Lucky, Being My Frequent Appearances On Court Tv Have Brought To Me Another Level Than Just The Actor Guy.

If I Was A Pokemon, I'll Either Be A Psyduck Or A Jigglypuff.

Job One Is Get Out Of That Cave. A Lot Of People Do Get Out But Don't Change.

It's Weird When One Movie That's Connected To Another Doesn't Reference That Movie At All.

The Greatest Thing My Dad Taught Me Came From When I Called Him From A Phone Booth And Said, 'hungry. No Bus Token. Please. Out Of Options.' He Said, 'pfft, Get A Job.

I Walk By Studio Heads And They Actually Look And Put Their Hand Out Now, Like Maybe I Should Be On Their Radar.

I Think The Goal Is To Make A Well Written Scene Seem Like It's Improvised And/or To Come Up With Things That You Find In The Room That You Couldn't Have Known Until You Get Into The Real Situation, Just Try To Improve Things As You Go Along.

At The End Of The Day, Anything I Think I'm Sacrificing I'm Just Giving Up Because It Makes Me Feel Better.

I Really Don't Want To Thank My Wife Because I Could Be Bussing Tables At The Daily Grill Right Now If Not For Her. Jesus, What A Gig That'd Be.

You Have To Give People Something To Actually Write Music So That You're Not Just Running Your Mouth All The Time.

The Audience Can Feel The Subtleties Of The Characters.

I Was Kind Of Like Chasing My Tail And Trying To Do The Right Thing, And Was A Little Bit Stupid. Or Irresponsible, Which Is The Same Thing I Guess. It's Just Been Really Busy And I Had A Lot Of Great Opportunities.

Remember That Just Because You Hit Bottom Doesn't Mean You Have To Stay There.

Do I Want To Be A Hero To My Son? No. I Would Like To Be A Very Real Human Being. That's Hard Enough.

You Know, When You're Part Of A Comedic Duo, You Can Take Breaks. It's Kind Of Like Having A Partner That Is Good With A Kid.

It Was A Democracy In The Truest And Most Frustrating And Most Rewarding Sense Of The Word. Anybody Could Come In And Say, "you Know, I'm Just Not Cool With That." We'd Be Like, "who's That?" "oh, I Was Just Cleaning The Trailers." It Was Nuts.

There Is Unpanned Gold In Every Soul You Run Into, No Matter What Walk Of Life They Are From.

You Have To Let Go Of The Things That Are Darling To You. You Have To Take The Focus Off Yourself And Put It On The Shape Of The Scene And The Intention Of What Everyone Else Needs.

I Think It's Miraculous That Anybody Survives Themselves.

Nobody Learns A German Aria Overnight, Except Jared Harris.

Acting Is Always A Challenge.

I've Always Just Shown Up And Tried To Figure Out What's For Lunch And Am I Going To Get To Play Some Racquetball That Night.

With A Terrible Script You Hustle And Try To Make It Better. But With A Good Script It Can Be Trouble Because You Rest On Your Laurels, So To Speak, You Think It's Going To Translate Easily.

I Have A Sense Of Destiny That You Are Led To The Things You Are Supposed To Do.

Pick A Dysfunction And It's A Family Problem.

Family Problems

I Need A Lot Of Support... Life Is Really Hard, And I Don't See Some Active Benevolent Force Out There. I See It As Basically A Really Cool Survival Game. You Get On The Right Side Of The Tracks, And You Now Are Actually Working With What Some People Would Call Magic.

I Think A Hero Is Someone Who, If Abroad Or Traveling, They Go To The Goop Website To See What Shops To Go To, What Restaurants To Eat At, What Clothes To Buy, And They Do That Not Fearlessly But In Spite Of Their Fear.

I Like To Be A Little More Difficult To Nail Down That That Just Inside Myself, But When Someone's Motivations, Even If They Wind Up Falling In One Side Or The Other Of The Debate, When They're Personal And Also When They're Masked By Something That Only The Audience Knows Is Really Their Motivation, That To Me Is Just What I Call Entertainment.

I Never Know When The Seeds Are Being Laid, I'm Just Like, "wow, That's A Pretty Cool Scene. Is That? Are We Laying Seeds Here?"

I Guess The Issue For Me Is To Keep Things Dynamic.

Growing Up Is Something That You Do Your Whole Life. I Want To Always Feel That I Can Be A Kid If I Want. Growing Up Has Some Negative Connotations. Like, You're Not Supposed To Roll Around On The Ground Anymore. You're Not Supposed To Make Fun Of Yourself. You're Not Supposed To Ride A Bicycle. But I'm A Toys-r-us Kid.

I Don't Think I'm In Any Position To Give Anybody Advice About Anything.

I Thought That The Grounded-ish Nature Of The First Iron Man And Where I Think The Success Of It Was Based Was I Think People Got Excited That This Was A Technologically Possible Occurrence; And Didn't Obama Order An Iron Man?

Im Thinking Of Buying A Monkey. Then I Think, Why Stop At One? I Don't Like Being Limited In That Way. Therefore, I'm Considering A Platton Of Monkeys, So That People Will Look At Me And See How Mellow And Well-adjusted I Am Compared To These Monkeys Throwing Feces Around.

Every Time I Feel That I Really Hit Critical Mass And I'm In The Right Place Is When I Feel Like The Director And I Become A Third Thing, And That's The Character.

The Old Saying Is True, Behind Every Good Man Theres An Incredible Woman.

There's Somewhere You're Supposed To Go, And If You Get Quiet Enough, You'll Make It.

I Make Faces For Cash And Chicken.

The Higher The Stakes, The Happier I Am, The Better I Will Be.

I'm Not A Poster Boy For Good Behavior And Recovery In Hollywood, I'm Just A Guy Who Knows He Has A Lot To Be Grateful For.

I'm Not 40 Yet. I Wouldn't Even Bother Comparing Myself To Chaplin.

I Just Think It's Good To Be Confident. If I'm Not On My Team Why Should Anybody Else Be?

My Old Man Had A Philosophy: Peace Means Having A Bigger Stick Than The Other Guy.

I Know Who I Am. I'm A Dude Playing A Dude Disguised As Another Dude.

To Me, Friendship Means Loving Tolerance.

Sometimes You Just Gotta Be Drop-kicked Out Of The Nest.

I Had This Bad-boy-from-new York Vibe Going, Dressed Like A Punk Rocker With Spiky Hair.

Worrying Is Like Praying For Something You Don't Want To Happen.

There Are Some Parents Who Have Really Done It Right And Told Their Kid, 'you Know, We Have This Dough, None Of This Is For You. You Have To Get Your Own.

I Did Air America For Two Reasons: To Be In A Movie With Mel Gibson And To Make A Bunch Of Money. And Then Underneath There Was The Hope That In Doing This Formulaic Thing I Would Be Launched Into A Whole New Realm Of Opportunity To Do A-list Movies. By The Time We Were Done, The Only Positive Thing Was Meeting Mel Gibson.

If I Was A Lawyer, I'd Be My Own Best Client.

It's Hard To Get Out Of The Barrel. It's Slippery Around The Edges And People Are Happy To See You Fall Back In.

I've Always Been A Fella Who Put Most Of My Eggs In One Basket And Then Take A Dump In The Basket But I Really Don't Know.

Nothing Will Serve You Better Than A Strong Work Ethic. Nothing. And It's Something That You Can't Teach. You Have To Be Thrown Into It, Where You're Going To Sink Or Swim. It's Amazing How Self-correcting And How Clarifying A Good, Hard, Shitty Job Can Be. Because At The End Of The Day, Any Profession I've Seen Anybody In, When You Peer Behind The Curtains Of Oh, Wouldn't That Be A Great Job? Wow, What An Amazing Thing, A Philanthropic Endeavor! It Really Just Comes Down To It's A F**king Grind.

Sometimes You're Not Supposed To Enjoy It [acting]. You're Supposed To Cooperate With Misery And Proceed Anyway. But What I Do Enjoy Is A Sense Of Well-being And Just Participating In Life And Life's Turns.

I, Personally, Would Be Shocked If We Went To The End Of The Tape Now And I Didn't Have At Least One... Look, Even If I Don't Get One Directly, Eventually They're Just Going To Have To Give Me One When I Get Old. So No Matter How You Slice It, I'm Getting One.

I Loved It, It's Such Fun. I Like That People Are Seeing It And Then Talking About It. Like When I Took My Son And His Friends To See Napoleon Dynamite Last Year, We Spent The Next Six Weeks Trying To Explain It.

I'm Not A Method Guy. I Can't Be Bothered To Have A Method. I Just Want To Be A Part Of A Good Movie And I Can't Stand To Be Surrounded By Morons.

I Have A Really Interesting Political Point Of View, And Its Not Always Something I Say Too Loud At Dinner Tables Here, But You Cant Go From A $2,000-a-night Suite At La Mirage To A Penitentiary And Really Understand It And Come Out A Liberal. You Cant. I Wouldnt Wish That Experience On Anyone Else, But It Was Very, Very, Very Educational For Me And Has Informed My Proclivities And Politics Every Since.

I Think You End Up Doing The Stuff You Were Supposed To Do At The Time You Were Supposed To Do It.

And I Think For A Man Whose Native Tongue Is Spanish To Be Able To Put Together A Phrase Like 'cultural Genocide' Just Speaks To How Bright He Is.

People Never Change Because They Are Under Threat Or Under Duress. Never. They Change Because They See Something That Makes Their Life Seem Valuable Enough To Start Moving Toward A Life Worth Living.

Tofu Is The Root Of All Evil, And There's Only One Thing That Can Change A Man's Mind, And That's A Modified Uzi With An Extra-long Clip.

I'm An Actor, A Husband, A Father Of Two, And A Full-time Avenger.

Mediocrity Is My Biggest Fear. I'm Not Afraid Of Total Failure Because I Don't Think That Will Happen. I'm Not Afraid Of Success Because That Beats The Hell Out Of Failure. It's Being In The Middle That Scares Me.

Everyone Has A Story, And The Story Changes, And The More I Can Root Into The Truth Of Things - It's So Hard - I Don't Think Anyone Ever Really Puts It All Together. But Somewhere Along The Way It All Became Fused.

I'm Coming From A Place Of Total Strength And Humility Now.

Smoking Dope And Smoking Coke, You Are Rendered Defenseless. The Only Way Out Of That Hopeless State Is Intervention.

It's Like I Have A Loaded Gun In My Mouth And I Like The Taste Of Metal

I Remember When People Said, "man, That's A Powerful Scene In The Movie!" And I Was Like, "we Just Shot This Thing Before Lunch, I Don't Know, He Tears A Log Apart, I Said Some Words".

Mcdonald's Being The Official Restaurant Of The Olympics Is Like Smoking Being The Official Medicine Of Cancer.

People Rise Out Of The Ashes Because, At Some Point, They Are Invested With A Belief In The Possibility Of Triumph Over Seemingly Impossible Odds.

Impossible Odds

I Know If You Talk Faster And Use More Ten-dollar Words Than Everyone Around You, You Convince Half Of Them That They Should Shut Up Because You Know What You're Talking About.

Discipline For Me Is About Respect. It's Not Even About Self-respect; It's About Respect For Life And All It Offers.

I've Always Felt Like Such An Outsider In This Industry. Because I'm So Insane I Guess.

It’s Such A Floating Freak Show. You Get A Bit Older And You Start To See What’s Going On Backstage In The Collective Psyche Of This Ridiculous Industry. … Nothing Pleases Me More Than When Somebody Who Was Awe-inspired To Be Working With Me Realizes I’m Just Another Schmuck That They’re Bored Of Hanging Out With On A Set. I Love That Moment. I Like It When That Persistent Illusion Is Smashed.

I Don't Want To Be So Confident In Myself.

If You're Anything Like Me There Are Days When You're Convinced You Know More Than Everyone Around You. Which Is Often Confirmed By Your Interactions With People.

I Am In The Continual Process Of Transcending Fear-based Rituals

Wing Chun Teaches You What To Concentrate On, Whether You're Here Or Out In The World Dealing With Problems. It's Second Nature For Me Now. I Don't Even Get To The Point Where There's A Problem.

Sometimes Everything You Need To Know To Be An Actor In Your Mid-forties, You Learn Before You Were 15 Years Old.

[addiction's] Not About Placating The Bad Dog - It's About Feeding The Good Dog. You Still Have To Feed The Bad Dog, But Only Enough So That The Aspca Doesn't Bring You Up On Charges.

I'm Not Used To Studios Being Ecstatic About We Did And Saying, "please Go Do That Again."

I Felt Like A Fighter Who Was Training For A Title Bout That Had Not Been Booked Yet.

I Didn't Have An Identity. It Was Manufactured. My Identity Now? It Was Written On The Wall By Ancient Forces.

I Think That The Power Is The Principle. The Principle Of Moving Forward, As Though You Have The Confidence To Move Forward, Eventually Gives You Confidence When You Look Back And See What You've Done.

It's Become This Really Odd Thing Where Even Some Of The Folks Who Build The Things That We Wear For Entertainment Are Contacted By Darpa-esque Companies Who Are Saying, "yeah, We're Really Doing That, And We Want To Talk To You."

Does Any New Parent, Even If You're Not A First-time Parent, Ever Really Know What To Do?

Give Me A Scotch, I'm Starving.

The Lesson Is That You Can Still Make Mistakes And Be Forgiven.

But I Think Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang Really Got That Thing Where, If A Movie Reads Really Funny And Then Has Some Dramatic Or Violent Or Sinister Stuff In It, You Can't Forget That Primarily It Has To Be Even Funnier Than You Read It Or That Other Stuff Doesn't Work.

You Can't Go From A $2,000-a-night Suite At La Mirage To A Penitentiary, And Really Understand It, And Come Out A Liberal.

Im Such A Work In Progress At The Moment, Its Crazy, And Life Wants Me On Edge, I Swear To You. But As Long As I Dont Forget The Past, Im Cool. One Must Always Be Mindful, Just Like You Might Forget That Old Girlfriend Who Tried To Slit Your Throat, But Shes Really Still Hot. If You Remember The Stitches More Than You Remember The Pussy, Youre Going To Be Just Fine.

I'm A Soldier Who Didn't Know How Nasty The Battle Was Going To Be, And Now, I've Got A Purple Heart And I'm Back.

I've Always Felt That If You're Not On Your Side, Why Should Anyone Else Be. So I Always Encourage People To Be Confident, And Sometime Even A Little Falsely So, Just So You Can Give Yourself An Opportunity.

I Just Don't Like Big Guys Who Speak Cryptically And Act Like They Understand The Language Better Than Me.

Look, Even Bad Years Are Pretty Good Years I Think.

A Lot Of My Peer Group Think I'm An Eccentric Bisexual, Like I May Even Have An Ammonia-filled Tentacle Somewhere On My Body. That's Okay.

Listen, Smile, Agree, Then Do Whatever You Were Going To Do Anyway.

It's A Very Smart And Heartfelt Movie And That's Why, I Think, We're All Drawn To It. We Really Showed Up For This With This Collective Idea That It Was Really Ambitious, But We Felt We All Really Had Something To Gain From It.

Whenever I Watch Someone Doing Something, Even If It Doesn't Turn Out So Great, I At Least Admire Their Intentions And Stuff.

I Take Some Pride In... Representing Myself Exactly How I Would Like To Have My Son Remember Me To His Kids.

And Last But Not The Least

But I Will Agree That I Think That Things Happen With People In Relationships, That You Might Have Been Able To Enjoy Morocco, Say, If You Weren't Getting Out Of A Bad Marriage. You Know What I Mean?

I'm Not Used To Feeling Like I Belong Where I Am.

I Think That We All Do Heroic Things, But Hero Is Not A Noun, It's A Verb.

When You Have A Good Script You're Almost In More Trouble Than When You Have A Terrible Script.

I Think Paranoia Goes From Generation To Generation. It's Convenient To Imagine That There's A Few People Controlling Everything, That Way It's Manageable And Small. But That's Not Life, Life Is Messy.

If You're Doing A Drama That Has Some Comedic Elements You Can't Forget That It's Primarily A Very Serious Film That Has Some Light Relief.

Trending Author

Murray Gell-Mann

Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Margery Allingham

Category