As Robert Downey Jr. struts into a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, the first thing you notice are his dapper threads: a waistcoat over long-sleeve top, the polka dot pocket square. What you notice next is that it’s suddenly freezing.

“Why isn’t this on?” he bellows, cranking the air conditioning up, so the room suddenly feels like the North Pole. “Come on – let’s get a breeze going.”
Clearly the actor’s blood runs hot. Maybe that explains the feverish energy he brings to his performances.
He is, it turns out, eager to share the warmth. Turning a dining chair backwards and sitting on it like a rebellious teenager, the 49-year-old year seems to revel in the redemptive arc of his career.
He was the promising young star who wowed in Wonder Boys; the razor-sharp character actor of Ally McBeal; the intriguing concoction of intellect and emotion who was Oscar-nominated for Chaplin.
And then he lost it all. Struggles with addiction and the law landed him in prison. Studios feared his relapses so much that, for years, no-one would insure him on set.
He clawed his way back to sobriety; to Hollywood’s graces; and finally to his audience’s hearts. His filmography has become a story of second chances. Most obviously there is Iron Man, where Downey plays Tony Stark, the arrogant and swaggering millionaire turned superhero.
Sarcastic, over-confident and yet charming, Stark was the perfect role for Downey. He felt intimately connected to the character. They both had to make a decision to fight for their lives, to overcome personal weaknesses – and are now worshipped as more than mere men. And each is wryly conscious of his own power. It’s this self-awareness that makes both watching and talking to Downey so entertaining.
His speech is constantly interrupted with punchlines where his ego is the star – only for him to puncture it. He makes statements like “I always say: ‘Beware the passion project’", before adding, “I don’t know why I say that though. It just sounds like a cool thing to say.”
In life, as on the screen, he’s constantly winking at his audience, slyly nodding towards his reputation, letting you know it’s all a joke. You feel like he should enter the room waving finger guns.
That’s not to say he doesn’t take the work seriously. The Judge is the first film from Downey’s new production company, Team Downey. The name is meaningful; he has created TD with wife Susan Downey, a noted producer, whom he met on the set of Gothika. The Judge is a family and courtroom drama in which Downey stars alongside Robert Duvall and Vera Farmiga. Downey plays Hank, an arrogant lawyer on the brink of divorce, who returns to his childhood home where his estranged father (Duvall) is suspected of murder. While building his father’s defence, Hank is forced to confront old ghosts and hard truths.
It’s the most straightforward, old-school dramatic role we’ve seen Downey take on in a while. Though the actor developed his skills in theatre and experimental film, lately he has focused on summer tent-poles. His roles in the Iron Man, Avengers and Sherlock franchises showcased his rapier wit, hyperbolic chutzpah and skill for broad slapstick.
“Well, you know, I’m a multi-faceted artist,” he jokes. “No, really, I guess you could call this film a drama – there’s a lot in it that’s heart-breaking. I’d be lying in bed reading the script and Susan would be like ‘Are you crying reading that script again? You better pull yourself together'. The film is also exceptionally entertaining. There are three trials going on: the trial between him and his Dad, the trial back home with the missus, and the actual trial in the courtroom.
"There’s always wit and humour in these exchanges," he adds. "If you know lawyers out for each other’s throats, and you record their conversation... there are these moments of passion and hilarity. That’s the achievement of The Judge. It has such wisdom and humour. And they blend. This script is like a Swiss watch: if you take out one part the others don’t work, it doesn’t land on the same message. I think it’s great.”
Hank is a slimy, albeit brilliant lawyer. The actor is drawn to characters who are analytical and understand people – but who, through ego or fear, refuse to turn that searing stare back onto themselves.
“The thing is, Hank can’t really see himself,” Downey explains. “He knows he’s in crisis. He just doesn’t feel it. He’s a pretty shut-down guy. He is in his life mentally and physically – not emotionally. He’s in complete flight from the ramifications of how he’s behaved. He is also accustomed to winning, and a lot of his identity is tied up in that, in his profession. That doesn’t matter to anyone else. And, of course, the fact his father is a judge and Hank’s a big time defence attorney says a lot about him.”
It’s easy to see why Downey would be attracted to the role .
“Yeah, I suppose that stuff does speak to me. Every day, he has to jump through some sort of flaming hoop. I’d never really played a part that had so much to do with salvation and redemption. By the end, I realised it was actually a very cathartic, necessary departure. Because you tend to want to be what you think people want you to be. And it’s such a dangerous pitfall. And I see it all the time with folks, where you fall into whatever are the easiest expectations others have of you.”
Avoiding that pitfall isn’t easy – nor is erasing the narratives that have been created for you, by yourself or others. He was always the party boy, always up for a good time. Now, he’s balancing being a superstar heartthrob with being a family man with a past.
“You have to survive the narrative, because the narrative has such a weight of its own. It’s like being in a bad relationship – you just have to wait until they move out. You can’t move on until that asshole is gone. There are always unsavoury aspects to your personality. You have to re-examine that and make sure you’re not making something part of your own narrative that you don’t want. Ultimately, all I want to do is put my head down on the pillow at night and not be in a bad space with myself.”
For now, it seems he’s sleeping easy. Happily married to Susan for nearly 10 years, the couple have a son Exton (two and a half), and are expecting a baby girl in November. He’s also relishing his new role as co-head of Team Downey.
“You have to be nicer!” he laughs, explaining the difference between being an actor and a producer. “You can’t go on set and just be concerned about your performance and your character – your focus is on the whole story. You’re also facing a bunch of people who are working and are away from their families, and you want to keep them looked after. I’m used to going on set and just going ‘Well, this is what I need!’ It makes you look outwards, so it’s nice.”
The actor and producer is wary of letting power go to his head.
“I don’t want to be one of those people in the industry who has a bit of leverage and just hammers it on people or assumes people will do what I tell them to do! If you give someone who’s messed up a bit of power, it’s such a damaging thing. And most people are at least a little messed up.”
Given The Judge’s themes of family history, Downey confesses that he has thought about what his own legacy will be – and he’d like it to be colourful.
“You know what I love about icons of Hollywood? You find out all this crap about them. ‘Oh she was a bitch, oh he was gay, oh she was so cheap'. I’d like people to think about me like that one day! As a stingy, mean lesbian!” He takes a moment to ponder. “No, I mean I’m almost 50 and I do need to grow up a little bit – so my legacy? I will have to get back to you on that.”
If he has matured, it has a great deal to do with his wife.
“I’ve learned a lot from the missus,” he reveals, smiling at the thought. “She’s very organised – literally studies traffic patterns to find the best route. When it comes to choosing projects, she says ‘Oh, I don’t know, it hasn’t been made clear yet. It depends on what speaks to me’. You have to look at it like that. We have this little girl on the way – so we will have to see how that changes things. In terms of projects, I’d be happy making movies with Susan forever. I also don‘t want to be so exclusive that I... well, that I deny you!” he jokes.
“I wouldn’t dream of denying you more opportunities to see my work.”

The Judge is in cinemas now.