ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. ACTS LIKE AN ADULT
By Christina Kelly
Kooky, hyperactive, self-destructive, funny, weird, wildly sexy--these are
the adjectives that once came to mind when I thought of Robert Downey, Jr. I
never imagined he was a spiritual and introspective kind of guy. So when I had
a little chat with the 23-year-old Mr. Downey and found him in a very pensive
mood, you could have knocked me over with a feather.
"I have Robert Downey, Jr. on the line," said the voice on the phone.
Hyperventilating, palms sweating, I managed to set up my tape recorder and put
on my objective-and-mature-journalist voice. Our editorial board--uh, me, Jane
and Mary Kaye--had deemed Robert Downey Jr., of all the men on this planet, to
be most talented, high-spirited, offbeat, cute and lovable--outstanding enough
to be the first-ever Sassy cover boy.
Having a long-standing crush on the star of Chances Are, True Believer and the
upcoming Three of Hearts myself, naturally I'd read every Downey article I
could get my hands on. So I had absorbed the basic facts of his life. Like, he
lived in New York City until he was 13, went to school in Santa Monica and
dropped out and left home at 16. His father, the avant-garde film director
Robert Downey, gave him his first roles, in Greaser's Palace and Up The
Academy. Robert went on to make 13 more films, all the time struggling with
alcohol and drug addiction. He now lives in L.A. with his girlfriend of five
years, actress (and lucky woman) Sarah Jessica Parker, best known for the
canceled series A Year in the Life.
These published accounts of Robert's life also gave me the distinct impression
that he was this very, very off-the-wall, always-joking guy. So I had prepared
some awfully clever and quirky questions which I had hoped would elicit
equally amusing responses. But no. The old, pre-1989 Robert Downey, Jr. was
exhaustingly funny. The new RDJ is sweetly introspective, excruciatingly
honest, but still irresistibly adorable--as evidenced by the following
comments.
Me: So anyway, if everything you knew about yourself right now became public
knowledge, how would that change the public's opinion of you?
Robert: [Sounding ever so warm, friendly and ready to answer my every
question.] Well, there would be no mystery. The more one tries to uncover the
mystery, the more they'll find out I'm just like everybody else. You know, I
don't know why people say, "God, he's such a normal guy!" like that's some
great revelation. I mean, some people are more gifted than others in certain
areas, but... we all have bodily functions and love our families in some way
or another, you know, and like playing Pictionary. I don't know.
Are you close to your family?
Yeah, sure, as close as I am to myself and to Sara, I am to my family on some
levels. My sister Allison is 25 and lives in L.A.. I see her pretty often.
Do you think of yourself as a spiritual person?
Yeah. That's why we are here. That is a lot more important than whether I'm an
actor or a good brother or a good son or a good boyfriend. All of those things
have never served to forward my happiness. Spirituality is very freeing for
me. I mean, spirituality is whatever one person makes it, whether it's praying
to a room full of Persian cats or whether it's climbing mountaintops to see,
you know, the Dalai Lama. No one path is necessarily right or wrong. [Pauses.]
Um. It would seem something happened in here. It would seem there's some cat
piss on my foot. I have four cats. [I snicker.]
Who is your best friend, and which of his/her qualities would you like to
have?
Sarah Parker, my girlfriend. Today's our five-year anniversary. [His voice
gets all sort and loving. Major reality check for me.] If I could have
something that Parker has--dedication, sever dedication. And, um, to look as
good as she does would be nice. Let me think. There's nine other things. I'd
love to have her eyes but it's nice just to have them to look at.
When did you "grow up," and what does that mean?
It's something that you do your whole life. I want to always feel that I can
be a kid if I want, and I can. Growing up has some negative connotation.s
Like, you know, you're not supposed to roll around on the ground anymore.
You're not supposed to make fun of yourself. You're not supposed to ride a
bicycle. But I am a Toys-R-Us kid.
Have you ever done anything that you regret?
Nope. [Laughs] Ah, c'mon... sure I have, who hasn't? I can honestly say I'm
happy for everything I've done that I regret. Like doing films with no
meaning, or not following my heart, or being self-destructive. They are
potentially regrettable but I choose to look at them as experiences that I
don't need to repeat. For example, I don't use drugs anymore and I don't drink
or smoke pot. I don't smoke anything anymore. About five months ago I went to
a treatment center. But that wasn't how I got over it. I just decided not to
anymore. It was really starting to interfere with my life and the lives of
people around me. I could say I could keep doing them and handle it, have a
productive life. But not a happy one.
Do you have any recurring dreams?
They're different all the time. I guess they're just expressions of where I'm
at. I believe that we do a lot of work in our dreams. I had a dream last night
where I was parachuting. That was cool. It was World War II and I was getting
all my gear together to parachute into some hostile environment. It probably
means that I'm making myself ready to deal with the opposition that faces me,
this new attitude that I've chosen. A lot of people don't like seeing other
people change. It's like this whole, "Don't ever change, baby" thing. But what
are we here for? Are we here to stay stagnant?
How do you think you're changing?
It's really subtle, but it's not running in the same silly circles. Trying new
things. Facing my laziness and facing my fears. I was placed in a situation
recently where I chose to audition and it didn't go very well. And I thought,
Oh, God, I've lost it, I can't act anymore. And that was just me feeling like
maybe in some ways I don't deserve what I have, and then I had to say, Wait a
minute, you deserve everything. Why? Because you were born. Everyone deserves
what they want. It's not like you have to go through tons of pain to get
happy.
How do you feel about fame?
I can't derive any joy from it. And I don't think that would be healthy.
Sometimes it's a responsibility that I don't care to have. When I used to be
on drugs, drinking alcohol and out on the town, I felt that I wasn't being
afforded an opportunity to just be anyone else that was going through things.
But I'd probably miss it if it wasn't there tomorrow [clears his throat] I'm
very dull this morning, by the way, and I'm painfully aware of it. It's hard
for me to sit and focus on where I'm at. Right now I'm working out at the gym
and getting flowers for Sarah, and I'm already at an ACLU dinner and already
coming home.
Do you think of yourself as socially aware, and what issues concern you?
Being a human being, I guess any violation of human rights directly affects
me, whether my rights are being violated or not. I work with Amnesty. I'm
interested in seeing what I can do as a human being to help the greenhouse
effect.
What do you think is your most attractive feature?
Oh. [Pause] I guess, when it's there, my honesty.
What about your least attractive feature?
My dishonesty, when that's there. It's there a little less each day. Hold on.
[To Sarah, who appears to be going out.] "Happy Anniversary. Bye, sweetie,
have a great day, I mean, have a great couple of hours. Bye, beautiful." [To
me] How are you feeling right now?
Me? I'm feeling okay. How are you?
I'm all right. It's weird to talk to someone and not be able to see them. This
might not even be Robert for all you know.
But you sound like him. [Pause.] Do you consider yourself rich?
I didn't have much money when I was growing up. I didn't have whatever I
wanted. Now I've got all these material things and I pretty much get what I
want when I want it, but it doesn't make me any happier. So I've kind of
backed off of compulsive sex--it's something you do to take yourself out of
the moment, thinking it will make you feel good.
Who do you hang out with?
My friends, Reed, and Josh Richman. Judd Nelson is a very close friend of mine
who I love very much. Christian Slater and Winona Ryder are good friends.
Do you read your interviews?
I guess I've read most of them. And I've found lately that they're a little
more boring. I'm more secure with myself now, so I don't need to talk about
anyone or crack jokes all the time. I'm just trying to be as honest as I can
with you today. I've felt some impulses to say some crazy, stupid things, but
I don't feel the need to represent myself that way anymore.
If you were interviewing yourself, what would you ask?
I'd ask myself, Why are you doing this interview?
Why are you doing this interview?
I'm doing it because I said I would, and I'm trying to follow through with
things, trying not to flake. [Laughs.] Why am I doing this interview? For
publicity--like I don't have enough. I don't know. Hopefully, I'm doing it for
me.