CLASS ACT: Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man 4 and Mel Gibson
If only because he refuses to march, lock-step, with Hollywood’s trendy, assembly-line pieties, I’ve had a certain admiration for Robert Downey Jr. for a few years now. Not long ago, he put on display an uncommon exercise in loyalty and compassion when the Iron Man headliner urged his fellow “beautiful people” to ditch their pompous sanctimony and cut Mel Gibson some slack; to give the disgraced, former film-making powerhouse another chance.
It’s the kind of public move that, not inconceivably, could blast Downey Jr. from the summit of his hard-earned popularity. I’m sure he realizes that — but doesn’t seem to care, because his friend needed his support.
My, my: defiant loyalty, sturdy compassion, sacrificial friendship? Someone really ought to make a movie out of all that. Perhaps one starring Robert Downey Jr and Mel Gibson?
So, Mr. Gibson apparently has some anger and alcohol problems and has done his share of reprehensible things because of them? Heaven knows, THAT’S never before occurred among Tinsel Town’s simon-pure ranks! RDJ has spotted the entertainment community’s ankle-deep moralizing and insufferable hypocrisy — and he isn’t having any of it.
Even if he never boasts another box-office winner, that risky act of courage makes Robert Downey Jr. more of a superstar than any mere cinematic success ever could.
Check out the details below from Screen Rant.com …
Robert Downey Jr. Will Do ‘Iron Man 4′ If Mel Gibson Directs
by Rob Keyes , Updated October 6th, 2014
After The Avengers set box office records around the world in 2012, Iron Man 3 helped Marvel Studios complete a one-two punch of billion dollar box office club entries the following summer. At the time, Iron Man 3 stars Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle were not contracted to return for any more films after, but it didn’t take long for Marvel and RDJ to come to an agreement that would see him return for The Avengers 2 & 3.
We know for The Avengers followup next summer, subtitled Age of Ultron, Cheadle also makes a guest appearance. We can only hope he has a larger role to play in future movies as well because right now, there are no current plans for Iron Man 4. Downey Jr. revealed as much at the Toronto International Film Festival last month when premiering his latest feature, The Judge.
Earlier in the summer, the highest paid man in Hollywood left the possibility of a return for Iron Man 4 open, stating that it’s really just down to Disney and Marvel making the right offer – another massive payday, but there’s more to it than that. RDJ wants to work with the right people. He was instrumental in getting Shane Black to direct and co-write Iron Man 3 after working with him years earlier on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And when it comes to what happens with Tony Stark next, even in The Avengers movies, he has approval as well.
If Stark needs to be recast one day, Downey Jr. will have a say. And Iron Man 4 will only exist if he’s interested. Fortunately for fans, Shane Black believes Downey Jr. will continue playing Stark but it may be as simple as giving the star even more of what he wants and what he really wants is for Hollywood to give Mel Gibson another chance. Years ago, when Robert Downey Jr. was enduring the roughest patch of his life, battling drugs and the law, Mel Gibson helped put him on the right path. In 2011 Downey had won the American Cinematheque Award and chose Gibson to present it, using the opportunity to let the world know that Gibson is a good man, a changed man, and needed another shot.
“Unless you are without sin – and if you are, you are in the wrong f***ng industry, you should forgive him and let him work… This is my f***in’ time. Mel and I have the same lawyer, same publicist and same shrink. I couldn’t get hired and he cast me. He said if I accepted responsibility – he called it hugging the cactus – long enough, my life would take meaning. And if he helped me, I would help the next guy. But it was not reasonable to assume the next guy would be him.”
It made sense then that at the beginning of 2014 Robert Downey Jr. was reportedly trying to get Gibson a gig in the Marvel family. Whether that happens in any form remains to be seen, but there’s no denying Gibon’s talent in front and behind the camera – he even managed to be one of the few enjoyable parts of The Expendables 3. Can you imagine Gibson directing a superhero movie? Iron Man 4? When chatting with Deadline this week, Robert Downey Jr. certainly could and he said that’d be something that would easily make him return for Iron Man 4.
“Why not? That movie would be bananas.”
It’s mostly …
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