robertdowneyjr Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Look out, Tony Stark and Sherlock Holmes, your master will soon be an expectant father. Robert Downey Jr. is set to star in Due Date, according to Variety, a comedy that will be directed by Todd Phillips. Downey will be teamed with Zach Galifianikis, who gave a sharp performance in The Hangover for Phillips.

Last year, Jessica Barnes reported that Due Date "centers on a first-time father and burgeoning workaholic whose wife goes into labor while he is stuck hundreds of miles away in a snowstorm. The only way he can make it to the birth in time is by hitching a ride with a college student." Obviously, Galifianikis' character is now described as a "mismatched partner" for expectant father Downey.

In an interview with Cinematical, Phillips said that neither Old School 2 nor The Hangover 2 were ready to move forward, so perhaps he already had his eye on this project. Both Downey and Phillips have a lot to live up to: Downey was nominated for an Academy Award in his last comic role (Tropic Thunder) and Phillips is coming off a film that recently became the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time. But put Downey and Galifianikis together on a cross-country road trip with the clock ticking, under Phillips' direction, and it sounds like a good bet that the movie will be funny as hell. Filming begins in September, ranging from Atlanta to Arizona to Los Angeles.

Next week's San Diego Comic Con is being pitched as a battle between the geeks and the girls -- at least on Thursday, when a panel for The Twilight Saga: New Moon is expected to draw thousands of teen girls, while a panel for James Cameron's Avatar is expected to draw thousands of geeks of all ages. I'll be watching from afar. In the meantime, new images have been released to whet your appetite.

The Los Angeles Times reports from the New Moon set in Vancouver, Canada, describing green screen moments and heartthrob murmurings, courtesy of Robert Pattinson. Of course, he's not in the pic, which shows Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) sharing an intimate moment in a car. (Jacob, you sly devil! Make your move, dude!) The money quote comes from director Chris Weitz in regard to visual effects: "That's not my thing." Weitz will be at Comic Con to show new footage from the film -- an action sequence and a love scene.

Entertainment Weekly has sneak previews of 17 movies and TV shows that will be highlighted during Comic Con, including Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in Iron Man 2, Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, plus pics from Ruben Fleischer's Zombieland, Roland Emmerich's 2012, Shane Acker's 9, Christian Alvart's Pandorum, Park Chan-wook's Thirst, Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass, Nicholas Jasenovec's Paper Heart, and the animated Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Check the gallery below for a taste, then hit EW for a complete set of images.

Update: EW has also released the first image of Jake Gyllenhaal in Disney's Prince of Persia. Check that out below as well.

The following post contains the descriptions of two scenes in Iron Man 2 (possible spoilers), so read on at your own risk ...

In the fictional Iron Man world, Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) helps to save many lives -- but this latest bit of news actually takes place in the real world, and involves the heroics of the actor who plays Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. While shooting a scene involving "a group of people running away from a group of robotic villains," an extra was knocked to the ground by a stuntman in a robot suit. With chaos ensuing during the scene, Downey Jr. was the only one to realize that the man was actually injured as he called for help while on the ground. The actor then jumped into the scene and yelled "Cut! Cut!" while the cameras were still rolling, then stayed with the fallen extra until paramedics arrived. The injured man was taken to a nearby hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken hip. We here at Cinematical wish him a speedy recovery ... and, um, we're now dying to learn more about this robot villain stampede scene. [IOL]

UPDATE: Paramount contacted Cinematical to say that the above story is not true. No one was injured on the set and no one was saved.

In other Iron Man 2 news, the website Nuke the Fridge claims to know who (or what) Stan Lee will be playing in the sequel. Fans of Marvel are already well aware of the fact that Stan Lee makes a cameo in some Marvel-related movies (based on the characters he had a part in creating), and so who will he be playing in Iron Man 2? Head after the jump to find out ...

You'll never hear me say a nasty thing about Robert Downey Jr., as I have a lot of respect for the man and a lot of appreciation for the films he's done ... but having said that, I cannot help but express the following opinion: The trailer for his new movie looks like, well, like no Sherlock Holmes story I've ever seen. Obviously one can never judge an unfinished film by the quality of its promotional materials, but if this clip is what we can expect from the whole of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, I'm ... well, I'm still interested. But now highly skeptical. And a little shocked.

I guess my main question is this: If your goal is to make a Victorian-era action comedy, and that sounds good to me, why must it be called Sherlock Holmes? (I'd suggest Sherlock Holmes and the Deluge of Weird Changes.) I'll leave it to the experts to pick the specific nits, but I'm betting the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories didn't have quite so many gunfights, boxing matches, explosions, and crotch jokes. At this point the thing looks like Young Sherlock Holmes meets The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vs. Van Helsing: At World's End ... which, I'll admit, could still be a lot of fun.

With one of next year's biggest films now in production, the race was on yesterday to snag the first photos from the set of Iron Man 2. Director Jon Favreau spent a little time on Twitter, offering fans a glimpse of his director's chair and some warning sign, but what folks really wanted was a first look at the cast in character (and costume). Just Jared and SpoilerTV managed to snag some shots, all of which include Robert Downey Jr. (as Tony Stark), Gwyneth Paltrow (as Pepper Potts) and Don Cheadle (who replaced Terrence Howard as Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes). Favreau also left this note on Twitter as day one of production wrapped up: "First day went great. I've never worked on a sequel before. It's like we picked up where we left off."

In addition to these new photos, IESB reports that comedian Garry Shandling (of all people) has not only been cast in the sequel, but he was also on set for the first day of shooting. They claim he's "a reporter or Senator or some sort" who pops up in a continuation of the final scene from the first Iron Man (when Stark proclaims, "I am Iron Man" and all that). Does that mean Iron Man 2 will literally pick up right where the last one left off? Seems so, especially since it looks like Downey Jr. is wearing the same shirt and tie from the final scene of the first film. Check out larger versions of the three images above down below. Iron Man 2 hits theaters on May 7, 2010.

With Watchmen arriving in theaters this weekend, it's once again time to start talking superheroes. But instead of listing the coolest weapons or names or fight scenes, Moviefone wants to know which superhero costumes are the best ... and worst. How does Michael Keaton's Batman suit compare to, say, Jennifer Gardner's Elektra look? Which costume turns you on more: Silk Spectre II or Catwoman? Or what about Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man suit up against ... um, Ben Affleck's Daredevil? (I'm sorry, but I still can't believe Affleck played a superhero at one point - worst casting choice ever.) So check out the costume gallery below, and let us know your favorites (and least favorites [cough] Clooney's Batman [cough]) in the comments.



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Actors are often the last people to know what's going on in their careers, but if you can't believe an Academy Award nominee, who can you trust? Mickey Rourke "grimly" told New York Magazine's Vulture blog: "Right now, we're not doing Iron Man 2."

That settles that, right? We move on to the next hot, resurrected star? Except it doesn't, because he had to preface his comment with that lovely, vague modifier "right now." Did he mean that he wasn't acting in Iron Man 2 "right now" because he was at a fashion show? Did he mean, We're still negotiating so I can't say anything "right now"? Was Mickey grim because he could use a paycheck, even one for a measly $250,000, "right now"? Oh, Mickey, you're so fine, why can't you lock this deal down and put us all out of our agony?

Compare Mickey's terse comment with the even more vague statements by Robert Downey Jr. a couple of weeks ago. Will Rourke be in the movie? "If he signed on to do it, I'm super excited." Which villain would he play, Crimson Dynamo or Whiplash? "[I can] neither confirm nor deny that. Maybe it's some semblance of both."

On the positive side, Rourke told NYMag that he's taking his agent David Unger as his date to the Oscar ceremony on Sunday. Will that facilitate further negotiations? Will they spend the entire show talking about the deal, thus disturbing everyone sitting around them? And how much money does Rourke really want to appear in a guaranteed box office hit?

As much as we try to cover everything here at Cinematical, unfortunately some stories slip through the cracks. Here's a bunch of stuff we missed this week:

-- The first images of The Fallen, from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen have arrived online ... except it's the toy version of the Transformer, which means it's a toy and not very interesting. But that's an image of the toy up above, and you can see two more below (courtesy of TF08).



-- Robert Downey Jr., Tina Fey and Ben Stiller are in negotiations to lend their voices to a new animated superhero flick called Master Mind. This one, however, focuses on a brilliant superhero villain who loses purpose in life when he accidentally kills his good-guy nemesis. DreamWorks is currently eying a November 5, 2010 release for the film. [Hollywood Reporter]

-- Mickey Rourke has signed on to play a hit man who returns to New York (in disguise as a priest) to complete a botched hit in St. Vincent. Walter Hill, who directed the 1989 Rourke flick Johnny Handsome, is stepping behind the camera, and production is supposed to begin sometime later this year. [Hollywood Reporter]

-- Amber Heard is slowly becoming the next up-and-coming starlet, beating out ladies like Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley for the leading lady role opposite Johnny Depp in Rum Diary, based on the Hunter S. Thompson novel. Heard will play "the free-spirited girlfriend of a fellow journalist who cheats on him with Kemp (Depp), trying to convince him to run away with her." [Hollywood Reporter]

-- According to Upcoming Pixar, the short accompanying Up on the big screen will be called Partly Cloudy, and it will be directed by Peter Sohn (a storyboard artist and animator who also lent his voice to Remy's brother Emile in Ratatouille.) Partly Cloudy, which doesn't have an official plot description yet, will mark Sohn's directorial debut. [Slashfilm]

The Women Film Critics Circle have handed out their 2008 awards (with top honors -- Best Movie About Women -- going to Clint Eastwood's Changeling), and one of the more fascinating categories on their list is Most Offensive Male Characters. And ... who do the women film critics of 2008 find to be the most offensive male characters of the year? Aaron Eckhart (Towelhead), Sam Rockwell (Choke), Larry Bishop (Hell Ride), Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott (Role Models) and Jason Mewes (Zack and Miri Make a Porno). I'm actually surprised that Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) didn't make this list, what with his fairly obnoxious (but comedic) womanizing ways, and I'm sure there are several other offensive male characters spread across the films of 2008 that coulda shoulda been mentioned, but weren't.

This, however, brings up an interesting topic: Who were the most offensive movie characters of 2008? Could be male, female, talking animal (or robot) -- were there any characters that just rubbed you the wrong way? Any characters who deserved to be sent straight to human resources? Furthermore, were there any films in general that were so offensive, you either considered leaving halfway through or did, in fact, bolt out the door before the end credits rolled? Sound off below ...