I think Mr Downey is one of the foremost acting talents of our time (shall I duck and prepare to take cover?), and the events that have curtailed his career of late are almost tragic in their proportion.
I thought that this time, this time he could have a chance and indeed, he was told on the set of The Singing Detective that this was his last crack at the movie whip before Hollywood gave up on him.
Well I think he did it. He came through Gothika well, and has even gone on to some good projects. However, I wonder if he’s just had a sudden relapse in order to choose his next movie, The Shaggy Dog!
Coming soon is reporting from Variety:
…has joined the cast of Walt Disney Pictures’ comic remake of The Shaggy Dog, starring Tim Allen as a man who occasionally changes into a sheepdog.
Downey will play a yuppie entrepreneur who is using dogs to experiment with the miracle drug he hopes will give seven years to every human year.
Brian Robbins is directing the new version, which started filming in Los Angeles on November 15th and also stars Kristin Davis, Danny Glover, and Craig Kilborn.
Am I the only one to think that this is a real bad choice, or that this promises to be an awful movie?
I hope for better things for Mr Downey, I really do think he is a great actor, and I’m not going to mention Chaplin!
I’d like to see this happening. I have always admired Mr. Downey.
I would add to this that Diwbey said he chose this movie because it was being filmed in LA and he was right in the middle of promotingn his CD, The Futurist. Since he is listed as being on at least 5 talk shows at the end of January 2005 (Letterman, The View, Carson Daly, Regis & Kelly and the CBS Morning Show) and was on another bunch in November and December of 2004 (Oprah, Ellen, Jay Leno, Good Morning America) – I would say this move would make sense. Plus any Tim Allen movie is pretty much assured big box office success, so it’s also a good move in that regard. His manager is one of the best in the industry and Downey is highly regarded by many director’s in Hollywood as well as being a close friend to Joel Silver and Mel Gibson, both of whom have recently rewarded the hard work he’s done on his personal life with jobs.
Peace, Cassie
I think Downey is one of the best actors around too. He has 4 movies coming out next year… Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Eros, Game 6 and Scanner Darkly. He just released an excellent cd that he wrote most of the music for and the Chicago Sun Times gave it 3 out of 4 stars today. He has not relapsed. Quite the contrary.. he has never been more healthy or busy in his career. He was just on Oprah last week promoting his new cd and looked fantastic. If you could have heard what he said and how he looked you would not say the word relapse. I would love to see him get parts like Sean Penn but I don’t mind him doing a family comedy.He is a wonderful physical comedian and this will just broaden his audience. I read that one of the reasons he chose this part was so that he could stay in LA and promote his cd and be near his son. I think he is doing great.. next year will be fantastic for him.Doing a part like this will also show Hollywood that he can be trusted. If Disney will work with him..anyone can and should.