1 00:00:01,560 --> 00:00:05,480 Speaker 1: Greetings, Hollywoodland listeners. Welcome to another audition of the Hollywood 2 00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:08,320 Speaker 1: Land Podcast. We're dipping into the archive this week talking 3 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:13,039 Speaker 1: about Robert Downey Junior, one of the greatest actors in 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: modern Hollywood times. Robert Downey Junior is one of those 5 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: special guys. You see him on the screen and he's 6 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: just unlike everybody else, and his story is unlike any 7 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: others as well. When I think of Robert Downey Junior 8 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: these days, I think of a a list actor, demanding 9 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: top dollar type of guy who can open a movie, 10 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: type of actor that not only my wife and I love, 11 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: but that my kids love obviously because of the Ironman franchise. 12 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:39,880 Speaker 1: But I think of all those great, often forgotten, smaller 13 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: roles that Robert Downey Junior played and lesser known movies, 14 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,240 Speaker 1: indie movies, Two Guys and a Girl, I think about 15 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: less than Zero Home for the Holidays. A lot of 16 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: those films were made during the time of this story 17 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: we're about to tell you, and thankfully, Robert Downey Junior 18 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,080 Speaker 1: came out on the right side of this story, the 19 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: story that almost ended tragically but did not. And of 20 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: course he's one of the biggest stars in Hollywood right now, 21 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: and perhaps that prevents him from making those cooler, smaller 22 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: roles that I like to think of him playing. But 23 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,960 Speaker 1: I think that's okay. Would rather have him above ground, breathing, 24 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: working and making great art, even if it is more 25 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: for my kids these days than it is for me. 26 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: Robert Downey Junior is still with us. He is still productive, 27 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,199 Speaker 1: He is still fantastic on screen no matter what movie 28 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: he's in. This is his story from hollywood Land. Hope 29 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: you dig it as much as we doug putting it 30 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: together for you. See you next week in the hollywood 31 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:37,480 Speaker 1: Land archive. Hollywood Land is a production of Double Elvis, 32 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: but most of you know that cannot be true. For 33 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: every Christmas, you see what I do, and now you 34 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: will not only know just what I do, but you hear. 35 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: The stories about Robert Downey Junior are insane. He began 36 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,639 Speaker 1: a thirty year relationship with drugs at just eight years old. 37 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: He was busted stark naked and hallucinating while driving down 38 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: Sunset Boulevard. Soon after, he was arrested again, and this 39 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: time for speeding on the pch with illicit drugs and 40 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: a concealed weapon. He routinely escaped from rehab facilities within 41 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: days of being checked in. He did time in both 42 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 1: in La County jail and a California state prison for 43 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: violating the terms of his parole. Then before and after 44 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: he staged the greatest rebound in Hollywood history, Robert Downey 45 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 1: Junior made great films, unlike that clip I played for 46 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:43,839 Speaker 1: you at the top of the show that wasn't from 47 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: a great film. That was a fair use sample from 48 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: the Library of Congress of Harry E. Humphrey performing Santa 49 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: Claus Hides in your phonograph. I played you that clip 50 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:57,959 Speaker 1: because I can't afford the rights to sample a clip 51 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 1: from Robert Emmericks Independence Day. And why would I play 52 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: you that specific slice of It's the. 53 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 2: End of the World as we know it? Cheese? Could 54 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 2: I afford it? 55 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:12,360 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one movie in America on 56 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: July sixteenth, nineteen ninety six, And that was the day 57 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: that Robert Downey Junior was found passed out in a 58 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: drug induced haze and near death in a stranger's house 59 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 1: in a little kid's bed, an event that incredibly wasn't 60 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: even his wake up called a straighten him out. On 61 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: this episode Naked hallucinations, illicit drugs, concealed weapons, Hollywood rebounds, 62 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: and Robert Downey Junior. I'm Jake Brennan and this is 63 00:03:42,840 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: Hollywood Land. He was alone at the top, but he 64 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: wasn't lonely. The air was rarefied at the top. From 65 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: up there, you could gaze down into the valley or 66 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:21,039 Speaker 1: the city, or the abyss that was the Pacific Ocean, 67 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: depending on which particular home you were gazing down from, 68 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: maybe the ranch in the Pacific Palisades, or the one 69 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: in Rustic Canyon, or one of the two houses in Venice, 70 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: or the Peace the Resistance in Malibu, all seven acres 71 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,359 Speaker 1: of reduced carbon footprint and farm homestead purchased above Zooma Beach. 72 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: It was a long way down. From up there, you 73 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: could barely see the bottom, not that Robert Downey Junior 74 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:50,120 Speaker 1: would ever want to see the bottom again. He had 75 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,919 Speaker 1: picked himself up and scaled back up and never looked back. 76 00:04:56,320 --> 00:05:00,840 Speaker 1: It was twenty fifteen. Robert Downey Junior stood triumphantly at 77 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: the top, all on his own eighty million dollars a year, 78 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 1: that's what he was pulling down for three years running. 79 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: No other actor in Hollywood could touch him. He was undisputed. 80 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,039 Speaker 1: His salary was unprecedented. He was at the center of 81 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,840 Speaker 1: a renaissance in Hollywood, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Three movies 82 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: deep into the billions grossing Iron Man Saga. His character 83 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: Tony Stark, the asshole turned avenger with the heart of 84 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 1: arch reactor Gold, would lead the charge over multiple films 85 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,160 Speaker 1: in the twenty tens that would make history and shitloads 86 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: of money. If Downy could see into the future, he 87 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:40,479 Speaker 1: would see that he wasn't even at the apex of 88 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: the upper crust. Yet, he was still in ascent, and 89 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: there was still billions to be made, in an industry 90 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: to reinvent. And when he went to bed that night, 91 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: he never slept that good. The hush of the salty 92 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: breeze of the Pacific, a white noise of nothing, calm, serene, 93 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: the kind of sound that could only be heard at 94 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: the top. The pen light shining directly into his eyes 95 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 1: stung like a needle, Sir, A jagged needle, jagged needle 96 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 1: on fire, sir. His ears rang. A hand repeatedly slapped 97 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 1: the side of his face. He tried to lift his head, 98 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: but the room was spinning so violently he couldn't tell 99 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: which way was up. He didn't know that he was 100 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: away courtesy of a shot of narcan that the paramedics 101 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,280 Speaker 1: had given him just moments before, when he was unconsciously 102 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 1: teetering on the verge of death. Now he tasted life 103 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,159 Speaker 1: and it tasted like shit. His mouth was rotten, his 104 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,280 Speaker 1: head was pounding, and he was gonna puke. And now 105 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: this goddamn penlight. Sir, I'm gonna need you to stand 106 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: up and try to walk with me. One of the 107 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: paramedics was trying to pull him out of the bed. 108 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 1: It wasn't his bed. He looked around the room and 109 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:58,160 Speaker 1: it wasn't his room either. Where the fuck was he? 110 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:02,479 Speaker 1: When the fuck was he? The paramedic attempted to reassure 111 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: him by stating that it was July sixteenth, nineteen ninety six. 112 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: They were in Mallible, Yes, but no, this was not 113 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: his house. As he was sat upright in bed with 114 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: help from the paramedics, he saw her on the other 115 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:18,640 Speaker 1: side of the room, the owner of the house, a mom, 116 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: the mom of the eleven year old kid whose bed 117 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: he had used as a landing pad for his shaky descent. 118 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: He thought he recognized her She recognized him all right, 119 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: her oscar nominated neighbor from seventeen houses up the road, 120 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: Robert Downey Junior had famously lost that oscar for his 121 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: portrayal of Charlie Chaplin to Al Pacino's overacted who ah, 122 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: And now three years later, down He was riding out 123 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: that losing streak in a stranger's bed. He'd lost his 124 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: sense of direction, and he'd lost his way around Broadbeach Road. 125 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:55,120 Speaker 1: He'd lost his fucking mind. He'd also lost the confidence 126 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: of nearly everyone in Hollywood. He was thirty one years old. 127 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: He'd always been one to live on the edge. He 128 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: was a rebel, a cynic, the child of one of 129 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: cinema's counterculture figureheads, and those qualities shone bright in every 130 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: performance he gave. His personal life was as dosed and 131 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: vice and neon as his character Julian and the prophetic 132 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: less than zero. 133 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 2: But unlike Julian, Downey. 134 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: Had been able to avoid that inevitable descent to the bottom, 135 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: at least for a while. The nineties had been rough, 136 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:27,560 Speaker 1: and he was addicted to the thrill of hard drugs. 137 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:31,360 Speaker 1: He bounced between three talent agencies in the previous year alone, 138 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: and if that wasn't bad enough, he found passed out 139 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:37,520 Speaker 1: and nearly dead in his neighbor's bed. He was found 140 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: mere hours after. He was formally charged with coke and heroin. 141 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: That charge was related to an incident a few weeks earlier. 142 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:52,200 Speaker 1: Out on the PCH, cars moved faster out there than 143 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: anywhere else in the Greater LA. The curves were more dramatic, 144 00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 1: and so were the sunsets. On Hollywood Boulevard, he crew 145 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: on the PCH, you flew the windows of the Ford 146 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: f one point fifty were rolled down. Robert Downey Junior 147 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: was alone. He'd already dropped the girl off at her place. 148 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: She wanted to go home. She scoffed at him forgetting 149 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 1: high the nerve after he'd literally saved her life the 150 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:22,719 Speaker 1: night before at dinner when she choked on a fishbone. 151 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:24,840 Speaker 1: It was the first time he'd performed the hind light 152 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: on someone and worked like a charm. But now she 153 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: was a bad luck charm, harshing his mellow. This was 154 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: how she thanked him. He didn't need any more bad 155 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,839 Speaker 1: luck than he already had. After he dropped her off, 156 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: he decided to gun it back home to Malibu. He 157 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: was high, but he felt all right. He was good high, 158 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:47,240 Speaker 1: not bad high. He wasn't seeing things. He felt invincible enough. 159 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: In this stretch of the pch was a straight shot. 160 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: Odds were he could make it home without incident. He 161 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: passed through a set of traffic lights and they were green, 162 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 1: and he was in the clear. And then the other 163 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: lights sprung up behind him, blues and down. He looked 164 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:04,520 Speaker 1: in the rear view mirror and saw a mix of 165 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:07,280 Speaker 1: the receided green traffic lights and the cops blue lights, 166 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: and the bright blend of color shocked the dark knight sky. 167 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 2: The fuck was that color? Cyan. 168 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 1: It wasn't just the coke and the junk he had 169 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: to worry about. It was also the three fifty seven magnum. 170 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:20,520 Speaker 2: On the passenger seat. 171 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,840 Speaker 1: The thing was unloaded, but still it wasn't a good look. 172 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: Downy's dealer's boyfriend bailed him out ten grand and small bills. 173 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:32,720 Speaker 1: At home in Malibu, he dug through the garbage can 174 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: for the rest. 175 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 2: Of the shit. Yet a hunch that was in there, 176 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 2: And the. 177 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: Rock he found was so clear you could look through 178 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: it and see Catalina Island on the other side. It 179 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,559 Speaker 1: was a diamond in the rough, sparkling like a star 180 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:47,679 Speaker 1: amongst the banana peels and coffee grinds. Whatever the hell 181 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:50,320 Speaker 1: it was, he cooked it up, smoked it, and the 182 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: next thing he knew he was being yanked from some 183 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: kid's bed up the road in Malibu. 184 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:56,320 Speaker 2: Down. 185 00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 1: His eyes slowly began to focus as he was raised 186 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: out of the bed by the paramide. The mother was 187 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:04,079 Speaker 1: staring at him. She shielded the eyes of her own 188 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 1: small children. They looked afraid, but the look in the 189 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: mother's face was different. It was a look that had 190 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: once been feared just moments ago, but now it was 191 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 1: the look of pity. She pitied him, this pathetic junkie 192 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: and his T shirt and boxers passed out in her house. 193 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,640 Speaker 1: His jeans were neatly folded over a nearby chair. Somehow, 194 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:27,720 Speaker 1: that was even more pitiful that he hadn't even noticed 195 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 1: he was most definitely in the wrong house. The mother 196 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:32,560 Speaker 1: had the look of fear in her eyes after she 197 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: initially climbed down the circular staircase, some seventy steps in all, 198 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:39,199 Speaker 1: all the way down to the bottom of the house 199 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 1: where they were now thinking her son was playing a 200 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:44,559 Speaker 1: game hide and seek, maybe, And then when she pulled 201 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:46,800 Speaker 1: back the bed sheets to find not her son, but 202 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: an adult male, white, crusty foam at the corners of 203 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,280 Speaker 1: his mouth, his eyes surrounded by deep purple and blue indents. 204 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,560 Speaker 1: He looked like a dead man. She screamed, and the 205 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:58,719 Speaker 1: kids came running as she called. 206 00:11:58,520 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 2: Nine one one. 207 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,320 Speaker 1: Just once, down, he thought, just once, I'd like to 208 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,320 Speaker 1: wake up and know where the hell I am. That 209 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: would be a nice change of pace. But this was 210 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:12,880 Speaker 1: his pace now, waking up in the Malibu home of 211 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 1: a five person family whose names he did not know, 212 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 1: surrounded by paramedics and cops. 213 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:19,880 Speaker 2: It was just another day. 214 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:22,600 Speaker 1: In the life of Robert Downey Junior, and it was 215 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:52,680 Speaker 1: lonely as hell. Counterculture was the culture, your culture, only 216 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:55,199 Speaker 1: you didn't call it that. Your dad didn't give it 217 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: a name, so you didn't either. It was just life. 218 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:00,840 Speaker 2: It was a better. 219 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: Life than the life the other half lived. Those other 220 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: people bought the same old garbage they were being sold 221 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:09,280 Speaker 1: all the time. Spend your money here and wear this, 222 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:13,000 Speaker 1: not that, think this way, vote for that guy, you 223 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 1: know what. 224 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:16,840 Speaker 2: Fuck that guy, and fuck conformity. 225 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:20,000 Speaker 1: When they told you how to live and what rules 226 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: to follow, that's when you dug in deeper. That's when 227 00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:25,760 Speaker 1: you did the opposite of what you were being told 228 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 1: to do, always the opposite. But no one ever told 229 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: you that by not conforming with the masses, you were 230 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 1: simply conforming under a different name. It was the b side, 231 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 1: the alternate take. It was still an overture of fitting in, 232 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:45,240 Speaker 1: defining your place, your tribe, your thing, and the thesis 233 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 1: was right there in the old man's magnum Opus. Putney 234 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: Swept Robert Downey Seniors nineteen sixty nine satirical film skewered 235 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: the world of Madison Avenue when it's depraved corporate culture. 236 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,800 Speaker 1: It would take years, decades, year before the demarcation between 237 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: cultural camps was erased, and Putney Swope would find a 238 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,359 Speaker 1: forever home in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry. 239 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: But back in nineteen sixty nine, Downey Senior, in his 240 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:17,479 Speaker 1: so called cinematic counterculture, were not hailed by the establishment. 241 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 2: Far from it. 242 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: His movies aimed to mother fuck the establishment, and they 243 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 1: were low budget, confrontational, super weird. Downey Senior's next film, 244 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies Pound, featured people as animals waiting to be 245 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 1: euthanized for Christ's sakes. It was quite literally the antithesis 246 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,560 Speaker 1: of love story. The Ali McGraw Ryan O'Neill tearjerker that 247 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:46,040 Speaker 1: happened to be that year's highest grossing film. Pound was 248 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 1: notable for the acting debut of Robert Downey Senior's only son, who, 249 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:53,960 Speaker 1: at five years old, was introduced to his father's off 250 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:54,840 Speaker 1: kilter world. 251 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 2: At an impressionable. 252 00:14:55,960 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: Age, cinema wasn't the only thing the counterculture was experimenting with, 253 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: which meant that Robert Downey Junior cultivated a palette for 254 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: more than just odd movies. As young as eight years old, 255 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: he was smoking grass with his father some kids through 256 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: the pigskin around with the old man. The Downies, father 257 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: and son passed a joint. Father shouldn't smoke grass with 258 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: their sons, and that was squares talking, and they could 259 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: shove their square talk right up their square tight asses. 260 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 1: To Downey Senior, it was a shared experience, a bond. 261 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 1: As Robert Downey Junior would explain later, when my dad 262 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 1: and I would do drugs together, it was like him 263 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 1: expressing his love for me, and the only way he 264 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: knew how and the only way Robert Downey Junior knew 265 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:43,560 Speaker 1: how to be was the way his dad taught him 266 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: to be. You fit into the puzzle of adolescence by 267 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,520 Speaker 1: not fitting in that you weren't like everyone else. Rules 268 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: were meant to be broken. So at Santa Monica High School, 269 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: Robert Downey Junior would show up late, the scale the 270 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,120 Speaker 1: fence to get in, and when he inevitably up board, 271 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 1: he scaled the fence and reverse and let himself out 272 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:06,680 Speaker 1: on his own recognaissance. He didn't graduate high school, but 273 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:10,040 Speaker 1: he did graduate from escaping high school to escaping other 274 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: facilities when he became an adult. That came later, though, 275 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: First he escaped la for New York, where he began 276 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: acting in earnest Out from his father's countercultural shadow, he 277 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: wanted to find his own scene. He landed early roles 278 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: in John Hughes's Weird Science and Back to School alongside 279 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: Rodney Dangerfield. He existed as a brat pack, adjacent, and alternate. 280 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: Even though he appeared in one of John Hughes's earliest movies, 281 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,320 Speaker 1: he was never officially part of the core group of 282 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 1: the American pop new wave actors like Emilio Esteviz, Anthony 283 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: Michael Hall, Andrew McCarthy, Rob Low, Molly Ringwold and Ali Sheety. 284 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:51,600 Speaker 2: He wasn't like the rest of them. He was different. 285 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,640 Speaker 1: But Robert Downey Junior wound up back in la with 286 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:59,640 Speaker 1: his girlfriend, the actress Sarah Jessica Parker. It was nineteen 287 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 1: eighty five and Downey was twenty years old. The couple 288 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,439 Speaker 1: shared a pink house that had once been owned by 289 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:09,080 Speaker 1: Charlie Chaplin. A few years later, the fact that Downey 290 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: had lived in Chaplin's house would ring out not simply 291 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: as a strange coincidence, but as a harbinger for what 292 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: was to come. Downey didn't know it at the time, 293 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: but he was already preparing for that role, for the 294 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:23,200 Speaker 1: role that would set him apart once and for all 295 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 1: from the Bubblegummy Brat pack and earn him his first 296 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:30,480 Speaker 1: Academy Award nomination. Even Chaplin's daughter would one day say 297 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: that Downey's performance gave her a very, very weird feeling. 298 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: Downey learned Chaplain by osmosis. It was art imitating life. 299 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,439 Speaker 1: But unfortunately for Downey, by the time he got around 300 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 1: a playing Chaplain in the early nineties, life was already 301 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:52,400 Speaker 1: busy imitating art before less than zero, though less than perfect. 302 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,760 Speaker 1: Nineteen eighty seven movie, based on the excellent Brett Easton 303 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,760 Speaker 1: Ellis novel, in which Downey played a spoiled rich kid 304 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:03,360 Speaker 1: who descends into crippley cocaine addiction in self destruction. Drugs 305 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:08,479 Speaker 1: for Downey were an afterwork indulgence, a weekend tree. Drugs 306 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:12,639 Speaker 1: were constant, yes, but he wasn't using them constantly. That 307 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: all changed with less than zero. Downey played the part 308 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 1: of Julian, his skin clammy and sweaty, his eyes bugging out, 309 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: his lips blue around the edges. Julian always found the 310 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:29,600 Speaker 1: bottom underneath the bottom. Each scene, Julian dug himself into 311 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:33,680 Speaker 1: a deeper hole, and so did Downey. Downy became Julian. 312 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 1: Downy called the role the ghost of Christmas Future, and 313 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 1: it came to haunt him in it never left. Neither 314 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:44,679 Speaker 1: did Sarah Jessica, at least at first. She would eventually 315 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 1: grow tired of her boyfriend's cocaine abbit and at the 316 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,560 Speaker 1: end of the nineteen eighties, however, many saw as a 317 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:55,080 Speaker 1: rare stabilizing force in Downey's life. Without her, Robert Downey 318 00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:58,680 Speaker 1: Senior told People Magazine Robert would go one hundred miles 319 00:18:58,680 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: an hour into a brick walk. 320 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 2: His foot sank into the gas pedal. 321 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:07,159 Speaker 1: The Porsche purred like a tiger, and the tires hugged 322 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:11,680 Speaker 1: the asphalt. The Sunset Boulevard was a straight shot, a runway, 323 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:16,400 Speaker 1: straight darkness, no end in sight, just the eternity of nighttime, 324 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:20,160 Speaker 1: palm trees towered high above on either side of the road, 325 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:24,159 Speaker 1: illuminated by the pastel glow of neon. It was nineteen 326 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,119 Speaker 1: ninety six and Sarah Jessica. 327 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:27,879 Speaker 2: Was long gone. 328 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,840 Speaker 1: So was Robert Downey Junior's wife, Deborah Falconer, whom he 329 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 1: had married after a six week courtship a few years earlier. 330 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 1: She took their two year old with her. It was 331 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,000 Speaker 1: the same story. They all left because of the drugs. 332 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:45,439 Speaker 1: Same story, different drugs. First it had been cocaine and 333 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:49,440 Speaker 1: now it was crack heroin. One thing led to another thing, 334 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: and sometimes it led to a stint in rehab. Rehab 335 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: was never anything more than. 336 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 2: A rest stop. 337 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:59,080 Speaker 1: Though Robert Downey Junior blew through a yellow light and 338 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:01,920 Speaker 1: hung his arm with the t iris side window, he 339 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:04,400 Speaker 1: probably should have expected that his wife would leave him, 340 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,639 Speaker 1: but he didn't expect Sean Penn and Dennis Quaid knocking 341 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:09,920 Speaker 1: on his door so loud one morning that he thought 342 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: the thing would splinter into pieces, and they dragged his 343 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:14,960 Speaker 1: junky ass out of the house and put him on 344 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:20,679 Speaker 1: a private jet destination Tucson, another rehab facility, another rest stop, 345 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,720 Speaker 1: another barrel of conformists. Not even three days later, he 346 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: was gone. Jumped the fence, just like he used to 347 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 1: jump the fence back at high school, and he called 348 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,399 Speaker 1: his accountant. He needed a plane to get back to 349 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: La sooner the better, And as soon as he sat 350 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: in his seat, he started drinking non stop nips of 351 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,879 Speaker 1: whatever the stewardess would bring him for the entire ninety 352 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:47,080 Speaker 1: minute flight. And now he was back in his Porsche 353 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: on the strip. And another thing, he was buck fucking naked. 354 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:54,680 Speaker 1: Each time he stepped on the gas pedal, he felt 355 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,359 Speaker 1: the car vibrate in his balls, and he was high 356 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 1: as shit, some great A or Class A high. 357 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 2: On top of the booze buzz. He was rocking from the. 358 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,119 Speaker 1: Flight, and at this point he didn't know if he 359 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: was driving the Porshe or if the Porsche was driving him. 360 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:12,080 Speaker 1: And he had nothing, literally nothing, no clothes on his back, 361 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: drugs and alcohols slowly oozing from his pores and he 362 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:19,360 Speaker 1: needed to score now. He added down to a science, 363 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: out the door, down the road to his dealer, and 364 00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 1: back again, sky high. In forty five minutes. He was 365 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 1: like the million dollar man, but not tonight. And it 366 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 1: was all the rat's fault, the fucking rats. And they 367 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:37,679 Speaker 1: were crawling all through the car, and they were huge, 368 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: shitting on the leather interior. They were under his bare feet, 369 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:43,879 Speaker 1: they were under the gas pedal, the brake. He stepped 370 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 1: on the pedals and heard their high pitched road and squeal, 371 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:49,879 Speaker 1: dirty fucking animals. He took his hand off the wheel 372 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:51,600 Speaker 1: and grabbed one by the tail and threw it out 373 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: the window, grabbed another right. 374 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:54,000 Speaker 2: Out the dash. 375 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:56,560 Speaker 1: It wiggled between his fingers. He flung it out on 376 00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: the sunset as the Porsche made its dramatic swerve towards 377 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:04,800 Speaker 1: oncoming train. When the LAPD eventually caught up to him, 378 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,959 Speaker 1: naked high and throwing imaginary, rode inside of his car, 379 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: Robert Downey Junior wasn't sure how long you've been driving. 380 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 1: You were always driving in LA Some nights you had 381 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:17,480 Speaker 1: a destination, and other nights he didn't. He just drove 382 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 1: to drive. So which was it? The cops wanted to 383 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 1: know did he have a destination. It was a rhetorical question. 384 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 1: They knew where he was headed, next court, then rehab, 385 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: and if he didn't comply with that, he'd be headed 386 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:37,479 Speaker 1: to prison. Downy's former manager, Lourie Rodkin, whom Downey had 387 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 1: fired after she forced him into one of his many 388 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,879 Speaker 1: early rehab stants, had another destination in mind. 389 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:45,560 Speaker 2: Every day I look in the newspaper, she. 390 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 1: Said in nineteen ninety six, and I think I'm going 391 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: to read Robert's obituary. 392 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:58,280 Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this. We're we're, we're. 393 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:05,760 Speaker 1: It was Thanksgiving weekend in the year two thousand when 394 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:11,639 Speaker 1: the Palm Springs Police Department received the anonymous call. Uh yeah, 395 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: I'd just like to let you know the in room 396 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,679 Speaker 1: three one one of the MERV Griffin Resort, there's a 397 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:18,639 Speaker 1: man that is doing an ounce of cocaine with a 398 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: couple of guns and. 399 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:21,119 Speaker 2: Is pretty upset. 400 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,640 Speaker 1: It would be a Thanksgiving weekend to remember, but for 401 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:29,399 Speaker 1: all the wrong reasons. Palm Springs was meant to be relaxing, 402 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,680 Speaker 1: a getaway spot for la Is rich and frazzled to unwind. 403 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:38,280 Speaker 1: The rose gardens, the citrus orchard, all the flowers surrounding 404 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 1: the merv Griffin Resort, hotel and spa were all part 405 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:46,359 Speaker 1: of an intoxicating package of relaxation. But Robert Downey Junior 406 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:52,600 Speaker 1: wasn't relaxed. He was, however, definitely intoxicated. Downy was wired 407 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: inside Room three eleven. He couldn't remember when he slept last. 408 00:23:57,520 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: Some locals have been down to party, and they did. 409 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,320 Speaker 1: Co crack melowed it out with value. And then the 410 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,800 Speaker 1: party ended, and now Downy was alone again. I heard 411 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: the banging on the door of his room. He looked 412 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: around at the ornate French decoration. Six hundred bucks a night. 413 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,680 Speaker 1: Couldn't afford such luxury, given the current state of his 414 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:19,359 Speaker 1: financial affairs, but fucking The knocking came louder now, and 415 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:21,320 Speaker 1: the voices on the other side of the door were 416 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:25,920 Speaker 1: announcing themselves the palm Spring's finest. Downy looked at the 417 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 1: half empty tissue box next to his bed. It was 418 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,520 Speaker 1: a cute place for his stash. But you can't really 419 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:33,439 Speaker 1: call it a stash when it's spilling out of its 420 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,720 Speaker 1: hiding place, can you. He knew he definitely couldn't afford 421 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,399 Speaker 1: the consequences of being caught with a contraband like this. 422 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,919 Speaker 1: It had only been four months since he was released. 423 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 2: From the pen. 424 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:48,840 Speaker 1: La County Jail had been his first stop, and in 425 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: some ways it had been the worst. What happened on 426 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:55,440 Speaker 1: the inside stayed on the inside, but the post traumatic 427 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 1: stressed and that didn't stay anywhere. It was always with you, 428 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:01,760 Speaker 1: thing with those three other motherfuckers. 429 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:02,400 Speaker 2: On the inside. 430 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,040 Speaker 1: Those fists found places on his face that he'd never 431 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:08,480 Speaker 1: felt before. He tasted the blood at the first blow 432 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:11,280 Speaker 1: to his head. He thought his knuckles had shattered after 433 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 1: his hand met the unforgiving muscle of a fellow in me, 434 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: and they put him in solitary for that shit. He 435 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:19,800 Speaker 1: had to have facial reconstruction surgery to fix what was 436 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:25,200 Speaker 1: now a very fucked up face. The reason he wound 437 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:27,280 Speaker 1: up in La County Jail in the first place was 438 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,040 Speaker 1: because he had failed one of his court mandated piss tests, 439 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:33,320 Speaker 1: and that mandate, of course, came on the heels of 440 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:36,880 Speaker 1: his string of arrest in nineteen ninety six, driving down 441 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:41,159 Speaker 1: Sunset Boulevard naked and hallucinating, racing down the pch with 442 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: the legal drugs in an unloaded three fifty seven, passing 443 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:47,919 Speaker 1: out in a neighbor's house. At one point he had 444 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: stood before the same judge three separate times in the 445 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: course of one week. They made him do rehab again 446 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:57,080 Speaker 1: and then made him piss into a cup to prove 447 00:25:57,119 --> 00:25:59,439 Speaker 1: he was clean. And it's not that he had failed 448 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,159 Speaker 1: to test, he just didn't do it, which was equal 449 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 1: to failing it in the court size. So the judge 450 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:08,159 Speaker 1: made good on an earlier threat. If Downey wasn't going 451 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,399 Speaker 1: to conform to the demands of the court, then it 452 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:14,000 Speaker 1: was off to jail with him six months on the inside. 453 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:20,000 Speaker 1: Three years later, Downy missed another piss test. He was 454 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,679 Speaker 1: in a bad way, and he was still working. However, 455 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,679 Speaker 1: somehow Hollywood hadn't cast him out as an unreliable lepard 456 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:30,280 Speaker 1: quite yet. He shot Wonder Boys for director Curtis Hansen. 457 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:32,879 Speaker 1: At the end of the century, no one could inhabit 458 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 1: the character of a literary agent with the hats for 459 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 1: his client student quite like Downey could. But his private 460 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,480 Speaker 1: life was shit and not very private. He was still 461 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:46,200 Speaker 1: separated from his wife and child. A messy divorce was imminent. 462 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: His legal bills were piling up. He lost his house 463 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: in his car, and now he once again lost his freedom. 464 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: The second miss piss test meant not jail time, but 465 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,680 Speaker 1: prison time. It's like I've got a shotgun in my mouth, 466 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 1: my finger on the trigger, Downy told the judge, and 467 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 1: I liked the taste of gun metal. He was sentenced 468 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,880 Speaker 1: to three years at the California State Prison in Corcoran. 469 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:11,639 Speaker 1: The one in the same prison were none other than 470 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 1: Charles fucking Manson called Home. Downy shared a cell with 471 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,160 Speaker 1: five other guys in the state, tried to break them, 472 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,440 Speaker 1: make them fit in up every day at six am, 473 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,840 Speaker 1: scrubbing dirty dishes in the kitchen, four hours of drug 474 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,840 Speaker 1: countcling every day, and he barely served a year, even 475 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: though it felt like three. Hollywood was waiting with yet 476 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:36,280 Speaker 1: another second chance when Robert Downey Junior walked out of 477 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:39,840 Speaker 1: the prison's front door. He got the Ally McBeal gig 478 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 1: that same day, five hundred grand for eight episodes in 479 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:46,680 Speaker 1: which he played Callista Flockhart's love interest on the popular 480 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:50,360 Speaker 1: Fox show. He was great for ratings. He would even 481 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:52,520 Speaker 1: go on to win a Golden Globe for Best Supporting 482 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: Actor in a Television Series the next year, two thousand 483 00:27:55,800 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: and one. First he had the Palm Springs Police Department 484 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:05,280 Speaker 1: to worry about, and the knocking on his door at 485 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:09,399 Speaker 1: the MERV Griffin Resort Hotel continued. Downey was running on 486 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 1: empty and there was nowhere to run. He was thirty five. 487 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,639 Speaker 1: To hell with running, He politely let the cops inside. 488 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,680 Speaker 1: They didn't find any weapons, as the anonymous caller had claimed, 489 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:25,000 Speaker 1: but they did find plenty of drugs, meth amphetamine hidden 490 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:28,280 Speaker 1: inside that half empty tissue box near the bed, four 491 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: grams of heavily cut cocaine, sixteen valion pills, and down 492 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 1: He looked at the cops through strung out up all 493 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:35,959 Speaker 1: night eyes. 494 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 2: Don't do this to me, he said, you're going to. 495 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,520 Speaker 1: Ruin my life. And they did it, and his life 496 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:47,840 Speaker 1: was ruined. Within days, his career was dead in the water. 497 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 1: He was dropped from ally McBeal. He was axed from 498 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:53,880 Speaker 1: America's Sweethearts, an upcoming movie he was set to co 499 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,840 Speaker 1: star in with Julia Roberts and Catherine Zada Jones Dido 500 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,320 Speaker 1: for a Shot to play Hamlet live on stage and 501 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,200 Speaker 1: a production directed by Mel Gibson, who was still a 502 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 1: few years away from his own career debilitating controversy. By 503 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: two thousand and three, Robert Downey Junior was uninsurable. Most 504 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:14,960 Speaker 1: studios wouldn't even consider him for a role, no matter 505 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: how minor. It didn't matter that he'd recently won a 506 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:20,760 Speaker 1: Golden Globe or that he was an Oscar nominated actor 507 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:24,440 Speaker 1: with a singular style. The only reason producer Joel Silver 508 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,720 Speaker 1: and Warner Brothers agreed to cast him in the Halle 509 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,560 Speaker 1: Berry vehicle Gothica that year was because he put up 510 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: his entire salary to cover his insurance. Gothica didn't revive 511 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 1: Robert Downey Junior's career, nor is it one of the 512 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,479 Speaker 1: better movies he's been in, but being a part of 513 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,960 Speaker 1: that movie's production may have saved his life. It was 514 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 1: on set that he met Susan Levin, one of the 515 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:51,280 Speaker 1: film's producers, who was tasked with the unenviable job of 516 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:55,360 Speaker 1: wrangling Robert Downey Junior. Susan was a key player for 517 00:29:55,520 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 1: Silver Pictures, Joel Silver's production company, so she had experience 518 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,680 Speaker 1: it's working with difficult Hollywood types. She didn't find the 519 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 1: task of keeping Downey in line particularly challenging. Downey seemed 520 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 1: to have his shit together. He looked clean, he was lucid, 521 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 1: and when he asked Susan to dinner, the trademark Downey 522 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:19,200 Speaker 1: charm was turned on bright. Unlike Downy, Susan didn't party. 523 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:23,000 Speaker 1: She was our high school valedictorian. Downey didn't even make 524 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 1: it to his graduation, and she graduated summa cum laude 525 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:30,000 Speaker 1: from USC Film School. She was as anchored as Downey 526 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:34,640 Speaker 1: was rudderless. Nevertheless, she had to admit that she was interested, 527 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: as was he, And once she got to know him, 528 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: it became obvious that he hadn't thrown it all away yet, 529 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:45,520 Speaker 1: the addiction, the vice, it was still there. She could 530 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 1: see it behind his eyes and hear it in his voice. 531 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 1: It was a stubborn square peg in a sea of 532 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: round holes. He wasn't going to do what anyone else 533 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,000 Speaker 1: told him to do, and that was what he had 534 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: been telling himself for years. 535 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:00,800 Speaker 2: But what was he actually afraid of? 536 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:04,400 Speaker 1: That he would never again experience a thrill on par 537 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 1: with driving in the nude down sunset Boulevard higher than 538 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: the Santa Ana winds, That settling down was too pedestrian 539 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,719 Speaker 1: a destiny for a child of the counterculture. It was 540 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:20,160 Speaker 1: quickly becoming clear that Robert Downey Junior's destiny looked a 541 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:23,720 Speaker 1: lot different than he had imagined. But it wasn't a compromise. 542 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:28,280 Speaker 1: He wasn't settling, he wasn't leveling up. He was manifesting 543 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,280 Speaker 1: something that had never been seen before in Hollywood, a 544 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:36,160 Speaker 1: rebound of heroic proportions. With Susan, he could be healthier, happier, 545 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: and more successful than ever before. But being with Susan 546 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,040 Speaker 1: came with a caveat. He had to ditch the drugs, 547 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:47,080 Speaker 1: all of them, every last bag of powder, every rock, 548 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,160 Speaker 1: every pill. Nothing could be left hiding behind his eyes 549 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 1: or in his voice. Susan's ultimatum gave him purpose, hope, 550 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,000 Speaker 1: lit a fire under his ass to do better, be better. 551 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:01,320 Speaker 1: Down he knew he could do it, but not everyone 552 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:04,080 Speaker 1: saw him in the way Susan Levin saw him. And 553 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,520 Speaker 1: there were some who would look at clean and sober 554 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: Robert Downey Jr. In the eyes and only see one thing, 555 00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: an unreliable fuck up who only went in one direction. 556 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:17,080 Speaker 2: Down. 557 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 1: The burger tasted rotten, each bite worse than the last, 558 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:46,760 Speaker 1: some bottom of the barrel beef, patty bullshit. Or maybe 559 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:51,200 Speaker 1: maybe the burger wasn't actually the problem, Maybe he was 560 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:54,960 Speaker 1: the problem. The burger tasted the way his head felt 561 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,240 Speaker 1: when he was a arkand back to life in the 562 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:01,840 Speaker 1: stranger's house in Malibu did like a hallucinatory cruise in 563 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: the buff on sunset, like strung out loneliness in a 564 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:09,400 Speaker 1: hotel room in Palm Springs. He didn't want to remember 565 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,680 Speaker 1: any of those things, let alone taste them. And he 566 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:15,360 Speaker 1: thought of Susan. He thought of a future as a 567 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 1: Hollywood pariah, begging for scraps and begging for a paycheck, 568 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:23,920 Speaker 1: and he knew what he had to do. It was 569 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 1: two thousand and three, around Independence Day. A warm breeze 570 00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:32,120 Speaker 1: blew in off the Pacific Ocean. The Burger King on 571 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:36,880 Speaker 1: the Pch wasn't exactly a destination restaurant, more like a 572 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,800 Speaker 1: place you happened upon. You're hungry, you're tired, you're desperate, 573 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:43,680 Speaker 1: And the yellow, blue and red sign called out to 574 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:46,880 Speaker 1: the famished and the weary. It was convenience in Carne, 575 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: and for Robert Downey Junior, it was as good a 576 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: spot as anywhere. 577 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 2: He left the half eaten. 578 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,320 Speaker 1: Burger on the tray, walked back to his car, and 579 00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:59,200 Speaker 1: he opened the door and searched the interior for any 580 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,440 Speaker 1: drug he could get his hands on. He looked in 581 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,360 Speaker 1: the glove box cup holders, under the seats, the trunk. 582 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 1: It didn't matter what he was grabbing, could have been coaxed, 583 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:09,839 Speaker 1: be cracked junk, if it was a pill or a 584 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 1: powder or a rock, he scooped it up in his hands, 585 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,600 Speaker 1: suntil his car was so clean it would pass even 586 00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:18,520 Speaker 1: the strongest schnas on the canine team. His arms full 587 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 1: of drugs, he walked to the edge of the ocean, 588 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:24,759 Speaker 1: the burger King at his back, and tossed them all in. 589 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:28,120 Speaker 1: And that was it, and there was no turning back. 590 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:32,600 Speaker 1: He was determined, focused like he'd never been before. And 591 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,600 Speaker 1: he had fallen in love and then had an epiphany, 592 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:39,320 Speaker 1: had a burger King of all places. This was his chance, 593 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: the last of his myriad second chances. This was the 594 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,279 Speaker 1: moment he'd tell them all he was clean, show them 595 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,239 Speaker 1: all he was clean. He had learned from his mistakes. 596 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:52,239 Speaker 1: He would put his rocky pass behind him. It was 597 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,200 Speaker 1: all up from here. But he never touched the bottom again. 598 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:01,120 Speaker 1: Robert Downey Junior carried that positive momentum with him over 599 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:04,799 Speaker 1: the next few years. He and Susan married and they 600 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:08,120 Speaker 1: became working partners when they founded their own production company 601 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 1: called Team Downey. The Good Roles began to trickle in again. 602 00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:17,440 Speaker 1: Downey played cook turned aspiring actor Harry Lockhart and Shane 603 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:21,319 Speaker 1: Black's Kiss, Kiss, Bank Bang, and journalist Paul Avery and 604 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:26,560 Speaker 1: David Fincher's Zodiac, and then down he get the opportunity 605 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 1: of a lifetime. Director John Favreau wanted to cast him 606 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:35,400 Speaker 1: as Tony Stark, the industrialist, multi billionaire playboy turned Earth's 607 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 1: mightiest hero in Iron Man. Downey was stoked. He was 608 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:43,040 Speaker 1: all in. He couldn't believe how quickly his luck had 609 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:46,960 Speaker 1: changed in only a matter of years. He envisioned himself 610 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:52,160 Speaker 1: wearing Ironman suit on the big screen, and then Marvel 611 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:58,000 Speaker 1: weighed in. Under no circumstances are we prepared to hire 612 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:03,160 Speaker 1: him for any price. Robert Downey Junior remained too much 613 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:06,920 Speaker 1: of a gamble, too much baggage. The stigma of drug 614 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 1: and alcohol abuse in prison time was unshakable. But John 615 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:15,600 Speaker 1: Favreau didn't back down. He fought tooth and nail. Robert 616 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:20,120 Speaker 1: Downey Junior was Tony Stark. They both lived hedonistic lives 617 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:22,960 Speaker 1: before having near death experiences that set them on a 618 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:27,239 Speaker 1: journey towards redemption and transformation. He couldn't just hand this 619 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:30,879 Speaker 1: role to a younger, unknown actor. They needed someone who 620 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,680 Speaker 1: had lived this shit, someone who could see their life 621 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,120 Speaker 1: in the twist and the turns of the character's arc. 622 00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:40,560 Speaker 1: When Marvel saw Robert Downey Junior's screen test and knew 623 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:43,480 Speaker 1: that Favreau was right, that this was the role that 624 00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:46,080 Speaker 1: the now forty year old actor was born to play, 625 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:51,680 Speaker 1: that was the ultimate display of confidence. Confidence in the gamble. 626 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:56,800 Speaker 1: He had been accepted. He fit in now more than ever. 627 00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:03,479 Speaker 1: Robert Downey Junior ought to be in pictures. I'm Jake 628 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:21,760 Speaker 1: Brennan and this is hollywood Land. Hollywood Land was created 629 00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:25,200 Speaker 1: by Years Truly in this produced in partnership with Double Elvis. 630 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:28,680 Speaker 1: Follow like, rate, and review hollywood Land wherever you get 631 00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:30,720 Speaker 1: your podcasts, and get in touch with us on social 632 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:34,319 Speaker 1: media at double Elvis. If you like Hollywoodland, check out 633 00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:37,239 Speaker 1: my other show, the award winning Disgraceland, which looks at 634 00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:38,880 Speaker 1: the world of music through the lens. 635 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:41,319 Speaker 2: Of true crime. Just search for Disgraceland or wherever you 636 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:42,160 Speaker 2: get your podcasts. 637 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:49,160 Speaker 1: Good Gas A Lot