Robert Downey Jr. Wants Nothing To Do With The Low-Budget World Of Indie Filmmaking

If you’ve ever sat there watching The Avengers thinking “You know what? I’d really like to see Iron Man return to the sleepy midwestern mining town he grew up in to confront the long-standing resentment he has for his emotionally-distant dying father while a Bon Iver soundtrack quietly plays in the background“, don’t hold your breath. During an interview with EW’s SiriusXM radio show earlier this week, Robert Downey Jr. explained why a low-budget indie movie starring RDJ probably isn’t going to happen any time soon.

“Because they’re exhausting and sometimes they suck and then you just go, ‘What was I thinking?’ But I’m interested in doing all different kinds of movies. Sometimes the little movies are the ones that wind up taking the most out of you because they’re like, ‘Hey, man, we’re just running a couple of days behind. Do you think you can stay through your birthday and then come back on the fourth of July. And, by the way, but, like, the crew—can you pay for the craft services? And, oh, by the way, man, when we go to Sundance, it’s like, can we just sit you in a chair and you can sell this for six days in a row so that we’ll make 180 bucks when it opens in one theater? God, this is so powerful what we’re doing. What do you think of the movie? You saw it last night?’”

“I thought it’s mediocre.”

“Yeah, isn’t it the greatest?! Man, everyone’s an artist here.”

“Actually, most of you are kind of inexperienced and lame.”

That’s when Krishnan Guru-Murthy put his arms around the independent film industry, softly stroked its hair and whispered “Shhh….shhh….I know how it feels.”

Damn, what did the indie filmmaking industry do to Robert Downey Jr.? He really clutched a roll of quarters and went for the throat. The only problem is, I’m a little confused by it all. Can anyone remember the last time Robert Downey Jr. made an indie movie? Maybe he’s so used to making billion-dollar super hero movies that he considers any movie with a budget of less than $200 million to be an ‘indie’ movie. I can just picture him freaking out on set. “Whoah whoah whoah, what do you mean you don’t have the budget for an on-set personal jacuzzi masseuse? First you tell me there’s no helicopter transportation to and from my trailer, and now this? Somebody get my agent on the phone.“