Robert Downey Jr On "The Dark Knight": "Fuck DC Comics"

Robert Downey Jr gave a lengthy interview, promoting his hilarious turn in "Tropic Thunder," to moviehole.net. Later in the interview, via a discussion of "iron Man's" success, the topic of "The Dark Knight" came up, and Downey didn't mince words .

Here's what he said:

"Iron Man 2" is a topic of conversation, as he and Favreau are currently collaborating on a story for the much anticipated sequel. "Now Justin Theraux who wrote 'Tropic Thunder', is writing it and Jon and I are working on the story with him. It's pretty great and I think it's going to be cool. I think it's going to appropriately well thought out so that we don't forget what got us the response that we appreciated so much, which is, we didn't say, 'Great, now that this is like this, now we're going to twist it and do this with it.' It's now; I'm not saying we're going to do bits. I think more of the same; it is a very rich feel, because it was a very simple movie, if you ask me. It was an origin story."

Which apparently was not the case with the other big summer movie "The Dark Knight". "My whole thing is that that I saw 'The Dark Knight'. I feel like I'm dumb because I feel like I don't get how many things that are so smart. It's like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I'm like, 'That's not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.' I loved 'The Prestige' but didn't understand 'The Dark Knight'. Didn't get it, still can't tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I'm like, 'I get it. This is so high brow and so f--king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.' You know what? F-ck DC comics. That's all I have to say and that's where I'm really coming from."

Well clearly Downey isn't about to do anything for DC Comics anytime soon. "You know, you're never too old to burn your bridges because I believe I have offended everyone," he says, laughingly. "I think I've got a couple more. 'I'll burn that bridge when I come to it' is my favourite phrase I've ever coined."

Whole interview here

Comments

[szekp]

You know what...f*c­k RDJ. He's lucky he's alive for Christ's sake. Jealous much??

He didn't "get" TDK??? Maybe he should lay off the meth... or maybe it's just plain old crack this week, huh?!?

Whatever, TDK is now the second highest grossing film EVER. Put that in your crack pipe and smoke it. Don't trivialize Ledger's performance. You coudn't touch it on your best (drug free) day......

I have no desire to see Iron Man even once, but I've seen TDK three times, and plan to see it again. RIP Heath.

[jetdog]

RDJ got it right, he felt exactly as I did about that dumb, dumb movie, I took every opportunity to trash it here on Huffpo. It sucked.

[sharpstyx]

So if heath ledger hadnt od'd and died, That would have diminished the quality of his performance. What about the movie as a whole. Am i to believe that this guy dying had something to do with the commercial success of the movie? If that were true studio execs would bump off an actor before every premiere

[MillerMan]

I think RDJ said it all.

I have always enjoyed the Marvel characters to the DC characters myself.

[westreal]

Iron Man rules!

[mamacat]

"The Dark Knight" should have been titled "The Joker Rules." Batman was irrelevant in the movie, it was all about the Joker. They could have put the Joker in an entirely different movie, and it still would have worked, because the portrayal was so fantastic that it didn't need a Batman context.

In other words - loved the Joker, but the Batman performance didn't make sense.

[CostaMesaJoe]

Yeah, I guess.....
Every character in the movie had a vital role, mamacat.

The Joker is indeed one of the great, all-time villains; but he is the yin to Batman's yang.
Both characters need and feed off each other.
It was explained in the movie and thus, set off their rivalry for years to come.

[huzzah]

Isn't the yin the positive? Shouldn't Batman be the Yin and the Joker the Yang?

[MiddleRoadLiberal]

Robert Downey Jr should have OD'd a couple months before his movie premiered.

[huzzah]

Nice, moderate viewpoint as your screen name suggests you might have...

[Orangerie]

Robert is a great actor. He's convincing. Imagine Tom Cruise playing Iron Man; he wouldn't be able to pull it off. I've yet to see The Dark Knight but am still looking forward to it!

[maying]

I loved the "Dark Knight". I am not a Heath Ledger fan and I didn't run to the theaters when it first came out. I just saw it last Saturday :) I thought it was a very smart movie. Its "message" was pretty simple. He had to become the "wanted vigilante" so the people will learn to stand up for themselves and not rely on him solely for redemption.

[Kire]

I saw it twice, and I still had to have people on the imdb message board explain it to me, and then I let them make me feel stupid.

Downey's got a point, and I don't think he cares what you say on this board.

I admire that.

[Agentlady007]

He looks like the evil sinister character in this picture that always tied damsel in distress Pinelope Pitstop up on the railroad tracks. ( Loved you in 'The Last Party' RDjr...Don­'t bum out dude...)

[ChristianEcon.com]

Dick Dasterdly? Lol!

[Agentlady007]

Yes "my dear". Jeff Bridges put him on the mqap in present time tho'.

xoxo

[clearthinker2008]

Truth is I thought the movie was overrated, and didn't like it all that much. Plus the darn thing was way too long, and I have a college education. I believe Heath passing away is what contributed to Batman being the super hit it's become. Also I believe thats why the extra kudos. I loved Iron Man.

[Forester]

its show biz - don't think too hard about it

[NightAdder]

Downey rocks, dude! Batman is a really good movie but it's still getting a lot of its appeal and hype through Heath's death.

DC has always suckkked against Marvel. Popular super-hereos didn't have personal problems (paying bills, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc.) until Marvel came along. For the longest time, DC's character focus was more about being the super-hero and saving the city/world, not overcoming the one's personal shortcomings.

I would for once like to see Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent sign a check or pay rent.

[Malakkar]

Just for the record, D.C. got "Watchmen.­"

Anyone who knows, knows. Most of D.C. doesn't pan out well, but they've got their gems...

[OpusIsUnderTheBed]

Ironic. Probably the worst thing that could have happened to Robert, after coming out of his huge tailspin, was, huge,huge success...­...

[NEANDERTHALL]

It is great to see that RDJ has kicked his drug problem, and made a successful comeback, but in recent interview he has been cocky to the point of being obnoxious. This liberal flipping of the finger to the industry, which may or may not deserve his F U attitude, is not pretty

[darthmaul]

It's not only cocky, it's stupid. Pride goes before a fall. It would be some irony if he was turned down for a movie because he dissed some executives that produced those same movies.

[mamacat]

The movies that RDJ does are not old-fashioned studio movies, they are done by his buddies and friends, who pretty much think like he does.