Robert Downey Jr. left the "Urine Mason pots" on the "Zodiac" set, says David Fincher
He protested the director's lack of bathroom breaks.
Robert Downey Jr. had A career filled with highs (including winning an Oscar this year for its performance Oppenheimer ) and low stockings (multiple arrests resulting from its substance consumption disorder). One of the projects that many fans would consider a highlight of his filmography is somewhat complicated by his contradictory relationship with the director and a confrontation on the set which would have led to a fairly raw manifestation. Read the rest to know why Zodiac director David Finish said Downey left pots from his own urine around the entire 2007 criminal thriller, and how the actor thinks of his work experience with the demanding director more than a decade later.
In relation: Oliver Stone said that working with Richard Dreyfuss was "the worst experience" of his career .
Landing of the role was a coup d'etat for Downey, pre- Iron Man .
These days, Downey is a megastar whose films have made billions, and it seems natural that a director of Christopher Nolan Caliber would like him for a role in Oppenheimer . But 17 years before his best victory for the actor of the actor, he was still in mid-return after sailing some difficult patches earlier in his career. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB
The actor struggled with drug addiction when he managed to succeed with a series of performance acclaimed by criticism in the 80s and 90s in films, especially Less than zero ,, Air America ,, Killers born , And Chaplin , which earned him his first appointment to the Oscars. But in 1996, his personal problems threatened to have his career completely derailed. Downey was Arrested in 1996 On accusations of drugs and weapons and went to prison for a year in 1999. A first attempt to return through a role in the successful television program Ally McBeal was shortened when he was dismissed from the series After another arrest in 2001 .
The actor's second return started seriously a few years later, when he was thrown The singing detective in 2003 after Mel Gibson would have been paid for additional insurance required. Celebrated turns into the comedy thriller Kiss Kiss Bang Bang And finish Zodiac Soon followed.
Downey and Fincher clashed in a creative way.
Downey was not the first choice to finish for the role of Paul Avery, a journalist investigating the infamous murders of the Zodiac in California in the late 1960s. He would have been initially sought to launch Brad Pitt , but The actor was not available ; Daniel Craig Also passed. Whether or not it is to color the procedure, it was clear that the actor and his director were on different wavelengths once they arrived on the set.
Fincing is a notorious perfectionist who will regularly require several catches of his actors to obtain what he is looking for. Remember the long shoot for Zodiac —115 days, or twice the average of a film of its reach , according to The New York Times —Dedey's co-star Mark Ruffalo Said as a filmmaker, finishing "painted with people" and added: "It is difficult to be a color".
This demanding process did not vibrate with the loose style of Downey and more improvisation. "Sometimes it's really difficult because [the process] may not feel collaborative, but in the end, cinema is a director of a director," said the actor The New York Times . "I just decided, apart from several times I wanted the tourniquet, that I was going to give him what he wanted. I think I am a perfect person to work for him, because I understand the gulags."
Downey found an extreme way to protest against the endless shots calendar.
Giving to finish what he apparently wanted not to mean that Downey was above leaning on a little toilet humor to make a point. According to the director, Downey and other distribution members opposed the intense shooting calendar, which often left time for bathroom breaks.
"Robert Downey came to me and said to me:" I can't work like that. I can never go to my trailer. I can never bring my [exploitation]. , "" Said Fische in the Keanu Reeves -Directed Documentary Side by side , as mentioned by Squire . "He does it Urine left mason pots On the set, as in the area. He was pee and would bring him back as a form of protest. ""
The actor then repaired the fences with the director.
Downey may not have been happy on the set, but he maintained this sardonic humor throughout the shooting - in 2024 Variety Actors on the actors interviews with Ruffalo, he even recalled Pranch your co-star By convincing Fiscovering to resume a scene after having already made 60 taking, but a subsequent experience with another highly technical director made him realize that Fincing was perhaps not so difficult to work.
"I called Fincher recently because in retrospect, everything changes," said Downey. "Fifteen years later, you have such a different perspective on things, you know? For me, after working with [Christopher] Nolan [on Oppenheimer ], I developed new respect to finish. But I remember, it was perhaps the first time that we really set foot in fire with a demanding director. A real director, who does things in a certain way. ""
