Most young moviegoers know Robert Downey Jr. For his performance as industrialist/superhero Tony Stark aka Iron Man in the MCU. And while he deserves all the credit he gets for setting the Marvel Cinematic Universe on a higher trajectory in 2008, Downey has played many roles that may reflect the dynamic actor’s versatility. We will all enjoy his upcoming role as the head of the Lewis Strauss Atomic Energy Commission in Bio. Oppenheimer. But one of his most underrated and underseen performances is Paul Avery in The Original Filmmaker David FincherA tough psychological thriller Rasi in 2007 — just one year before he set the world on fire with his Marvel role. Downey is always at his best when he is working at breakneck speed and like a dog chasing its own tail. Lucky for us, that’s how he is in this film based on the true story of a serial killer who terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s and into the ’70s.
What is David Fincher’s ‘horoscope’ about?
Beginning in 1968, masked assailants began killing young people in and around the Bay Area in California. What makes this “Zodiac” serial killer unique is his need for attention and toy with the media. They will send ciphers to members of the press including reporters of San Francisco Chronicle To taunt them about who they really are and when they might kill again. One of the reporters who worked at the paper at the time was Paul Avery, a crime writer who ended up in the mystery and horror that the Zodiac killer brought for more than ten years in total.
Downey brings a patented dose of whimsy to Avery’s character including the rapier-like wit we see in Tony Stark and the silver tongue of many of his other roles. As Avery, his boozy simple life is quickly turned upside down as the Zodiac is still one of them and ridiculed the reporter for a year. The beauty of this performance and what makes it a bit of an outlier is that Downey also brings a wrought level of emotion to Avery that matches the bleak and heinous tone of the film.
What makes Robert Downey Jr. Very good in ‘Zodiac’?
A news story done right can create some of the funniest and fastest conversations in a movie. Look no more than the classics like All the President’s men And Highlights. There’s something about the increased urgency to the delivery that creates real edge-of-your-seat excitement, and the actors involved generally need to be quick, smart, and precise. Sound like someone you know? Downey Jr. Born to play a reporter (he also nails it as a shock reporter Natural Born Killers), and he delivers some difficult and shocking moments in a dark film that serves as the perfect balance to the casual, light-hearted elements he regularly brings to projects.
A back and forth between Avery and cartoonist, code solver Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the best exchange in the movie. Avery is a bibulous and jaded veteran who serves as the perfect sounding board for the passionate but out-of-his-element Graysmith. These two play like Woodward and Bernstein, and it’s a joy to watch.
Robert Downey Jr. Know how to spiral downward
We have seen the character of Downey Jr. Do the downward spiral hard before. His heartbreaking portrayal of Julian in 1987 Less than zero A breakout performance for young actors. In it, he becomes addicted to cocaine and eventually loses everything, including his life. So, when Avery begins to hit hard alcohol after years of coming up short trying to catch a mocking serial killer, he begins to deal with the bottle regularly. Avery becomes a sociable person who lives on a houseboat and drinks himself to death before drinking again.
We all know some of the issues that the Resilient actor has dealt with in his personal life, and maybe he is very good at clearing up because of some difficult experiences that he has gone through in his own life. Sometimes, when you can borrow from a real life experience and bring it to the screen, it plays very well, and Downey the alcoholic is easy to buy because the audience is familiar with his past drug problems. Whatever it is, he nails the part of Avery, and Fincher more than likely knew what to expect when he cast Downey in the role.
Many movies of Robert Downey Jr. There is a common theme
In every movie Robert Downey Jr. (Except the hand) There are key points in the story where you have to decide whether to join Downey’s character in whatever path he’s on, good or bad. in Oppenheimer, he will play a divisive but powerful politician who promotes a certain agenda that some people follow and others reject (sound familiar?). J. Robert Oppenheimer had to choose. in Less than zero, he pulled his friends into a dark abyss of addiction and they had to choose not to follow. In the MCU, Tony Stark generally has a way of putting the dual choice of good versus evil in front of his allies and eventual enemies.
Most of Downey’s best roles share this theme. He has an infectious personality that lets the audience know that he is always a leader and never a follower. He marches to the beat of his own drum and offers others the choice to join or not. You are with him or you are against him. in RasiSimilar to his role as Julian in Less than zero, Downey’s portrayal of Avery was the character his newsroom colleague Robert Graysmith chose. Follow him into the depths of alcohol despair and become a washout or not. In any case, he will proceed according to the plan.
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