In the final moments of the Chris Smith-directed film, much sniffling could be heard inside the theater where celebrity guests like Tom Holland, Zendaya, Adrien Brody and Oscar winner Travon Free also took in the screening. Downey Jr. explained that response. What Time Is 'Firefly Lane' Season 2, Part 2: The Final Chapter on Netflix? with updates on movies, TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes podcast and more. ", He recalled becoming addicted around the time he made the 1987 film Less Than Zero. 8,222, This story has been shared 5,614 times. At one point in the film, Downey Jr. addresses his past addiction and the influence his father had on that by bringing it up during a phone call with him. once a filmmaker, always a filmmaker. Robert Downey Jr. recalled in the Netflix documentary that he was "playing a game of just wanting to self-soothe or just stay loaded rather than deal with the fact that things had gone off the tracks a little bit". So Smith and his fellow producer/cameraman Kevin Ford start rolling film on the old man, and it turns out that Downey Sr. is no more interested in someone telling his life story than his son is. 'Sr.' Trailer: Robert Downey Sr. Documentary From Netflix - Deadline Documentary, Original Language: But as viewers can see in the doc, not all of those get answered in the final scene the two men share, which just so happened to be the last time they were together. Is one powerful family to blame for the deaths of five people in the wilds of South Carolinas Lowcountry? ", In an archive interview featured in the doc, Downey Sr. says while Downey Jr. is next to him: "A lot of us did things and thought it would be hypocritical to not have our kids participate in marijuana and stuff like that. Turns 58 as He Shares Video Celebrating His 'Blessings' and 'Sweet' Marriage. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday. Pamela Anderson's New Memoir: Biggest Bombshells and Revelations, from Jack Nicholson to JFK Jr. Bryan Martin on How Writing Music After Misfiring a Gun Saved His Life: 'I've Lived Through It', Robert Downey Jr. The website's consensus reads: "Sr. is an illuminating look at a fascinating filmmaker -- and a poignant tribute to a father from his son. 5,614, This story has been shared 4,590 times. What begins as Jr.s quest to figure out who my father is right now ends up being a poignant depiction of a man in the final stages of life he passed away in 2021 and in the process of reflection. Poguelandia is not quite the paradise the Pogues hoped. Sponsors for LA3C includeFacebook,U.S. Bank,Homedics,NYX Professional Makeup,Makers Mark,Redken,ViX+,Anheuser-Busch(Golden Road Brewing,Michelob ULTRA,Bud Light Seltzer,Stella Artois,Cutwater Spirits,NTRL Vodka Seltzer),Rockstar Energy Drink, Contraluz Cristalino MezcalandArrowhead Water. Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter. See what happens. Documentary From Chris Smith Heading To Netflix By Matt Grobar November 14, 2022 9:56am Netflix has unveiled a trailer for its Robert Downey Sr. documentary. We catch up with Jr. and Sr. at Jr.s home in the Hamptons as they discuss naming this very film Sr.; Sr. doesnt like it, but obviously, it stuck. [14], Downey's films were often family affairs. Since the content itself is inherently poignant, it's remarkable how stubbornly uninvolving much of the film is. But thats the high-minded stuff. Total, total insanity.". 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The Star on Instagram: "Robert Downey Jr recently opened up about his And while the younger Downey plays a big part in the film, the primary focus is on Robert Downey Sr., the underground filmmaker and actor who made satirical and offbeat films like Putney Swope and Chafed Elbows. May 17: "Sr." In celebration of this documentary about the late maverick filmmaker Robert Downey Sr., Emmy winner Judd Apatow will moderate a conversation with the film's director Chris . Elsewhere in the film, Downey Sr. said his advice to his younger self would be: "Don't touch drugs." Send us a tip using our annonymous form. When he approached the star, however, Downey demurred. The new doc series follows the ever-changing hierarchies of the Ngogo chimp community. In the new Netflix documentary Sr., the Iron Man actor, 57, pays tribute to his director dad Robert Downey Sr., who had Parkinson's disease and died in July 2021 at 85.At one point in the film . "Sr." is set to screen at the New York Film Festival on October 10, 2022 with an encore screening on October 11, 2022. "It was just a wild era," said Downey Jr. "That whole world, it gets tied into creativity. Robert Downey Sr. was an American filmmaker who gained prominence thanks to his work on Putney Swope, an underground satire following the cutthroat advertising world of New York's Madison. Stay up-to-date on all the latest Rotten Tomatoes news! Its a question thats answered in affecting, if not always thoroughly probing ways in the otherwise compelling documentary Sr., a lively look at cult filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. and his exponentially more famous, deeply devoted son: Iron Man, Avengers and Sherlock Holmes star, Robert Downey Jr. Downey Sr. (born Robert Elias and referred to here simply as Sr.) may have been little more than a blip on the cinematic radar these last few decades. The New Robert Downey Sr Documentary Is More Annoying Than Avant-Garde (Let me tell you, theres something special about watching a documentary in which Alan Arkin uses the phrase half in the bag.) Sr. shot a movie called Pound, in which 18 human actors played dogs locked in the same cell; Jr. was five years old when his father hired him to appear in the film, delivering the line, You got any hair on your balls? to a bald man playing a Mexican hairless pooch, and the rather bizarre sentence youre reading now is quite nuanced and revelatory in characterizing these two men and their relationship. Follow the tender but appropriately irreverent account of the life and career of Robert Downey Sr., the fearless and visionary American director who set the standard for countercultural comedy in the 1960s and 1970s. Downey Sr.'s relationship with his son, Robert Downey Jr., is a prominent part of the story. Sadly, Sr.'s career in the 90s took a wrong turn on the Hollywood freeway, where his quirky genius and undisciplined creativity were tampered down by studio moguls ("Hugo Pool" is perhaps the best of the later films). You should film that guy. 'Dolittle,' Sia's 'Music,' '365 Days' Lead 2021 Razzie Awards Nominees. The documentary "Sr.," which played at the New York Film Festival, sees the "Iron Man" star lovingly memorialize his late father, the renegade filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. Robert Downey Jr. still gets emotional watching Sr. I shouldnt have watched the last 20 minutes, I cant handle it, the superstar actor and producer said Sunday upon taking the stage for a post-screening Q&A inside the DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles. Family remains a through line, if not exactly a center of stability. 1,634, This story has been shared 1,370 times. (1987s porn-industry satire, Rented Lips, goes unmentioned, perhaps for good reason.). ', Sr.: Robert Downey Jr. It currently sits as Downey Jr.s best reviewed project on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, a surreal fact that he pointed out on stage. [7], On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 47 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. All About Robert Downey Jr.'s Late Dad, Robert Downey Sr. Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey's Relationship Timeline, Robert Downey Jr. The superstar actor joined producer-wife Susan Downey for a conversation with THR's Scott Feinberg as part of inaugural festival LA3C that was attended by Tom Holland, Zendaya and Adrien Brody. He went on to have a kind of herky-jerky helming career until exiting the film scene in 2005 with the Philadelphia-set documentary, Rittenhouse Square., But its Downey Sr. the unconventional family man, as much as the subversive filmmaker, who gets his close-up here, as father and son share time on camera (in person and via COVID-necessitated Zoom and phone calls) from 2019 until Sr.s death in mid-2021 of complications from Parkinsons disease. This is a real life. CIA Director, Noam Chomsky Named in Epstein's Private Calendar: Report Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. 1, National Board of Review Award for Best Documentary Feature, You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat, "Robert Downey Jr.'s Mother Dies: Read His Moving, Candid Tribute to Elsie Ann Downey", "Celebrity Jews: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Barbara Walters, Larry David, Ben Stiller & more", J. 1,047, This story has been shared 929 times. [12], National Board of Review Award for Best Documentary Feature, "Robert Downey Jr. Robert Downey Sr's life of drugs, taboo-busting films and parental McKay's cast includes Amy Adams ( Vice ), Forest Whitaker ( Big George Foreman ), Danielle Deadwyler ( Till ), and Robert Downey Jr. ( Oppenheimer ), who most recently produced and appeared in his . The documentary will stream on Netflix from December 2. Pops will be there with us. Eventually, Jr. and his son go back east to see Sr., at which part a serious leap of faith completely turns into an incredible example of trust. He did have a list of questions on the brain that he wanted to get answered by his father before he passed. Watch "Sr." | Netflix Official Site By creating an account, you agree to the Robert Downey Jr., Sr. proves a tender portrait and fitting tribute to an offbeat hero and creative pioneer. Sr. visits a duck pond in the middle of New York, and marvels at how there are so many little cavorting ducklings in such a dense, urban area. Terms and Policies Our Call: STREAM IT. Robert Downey Sr. and Robert Downey Jr. in 2014. Halfway through filming, Covid hits and leaves Jr. stuck in Los Angeles while Sr. is still in New York. Downey Jr. produced the film alongside Susan Downey, Emily Barclay Ford and Kevin Ford. We here about the effect that a bohemian lifestyle has on kids and what happens when one artists demons mirror anothers. Memorable Dialogue: TV producer Norman Lear describes working with Sr.: Time spent with him was perfectly, wonderfully, deliciously insane.. The Gist: I was just Bob Downeys kid for a long time. Its hard to believe that Robert Downey Jr. you know, I am Iron Man was ever in someone elses shadow, but thats how long and far and wide his fathers was cast. He moved into big-budget filmmaking with the surrealistic Greaser's Palace (1972). Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Pattinson's Serial Killer Movie Goes to Jr. seems poised to explore the subject, but by that point in 2020, Covid impedes father and son from meeting face to face.