THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 5, 1996 TAG: 9602030052
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 133 lines
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. is, by his own description, a party boy for all ages.
The age, and the party, on view currently is ``Restoration,'' the elaborate costume epic that depicts the reign of Charles II of England. It's a time, dating from 1660, when merry olde England learned, in a big way, how to be merry.
``I really had to learn how to work in high heels,'' Downey recalled while resting in the Essex House in New York. ``Don't try this at home. It's not safe.''
High heels, though, weren't the worst of it. In one scene, his only costume was a feather. ``Have you ever tried to run and keep a feather balanced at the same time?'' he asked.
``Take my word for it. It isn't easy. There I was standing bare-assed with a few hundred extras wandering about. I was supposed to run, drink wine and keep the feather strategically placed at the same time. The wine was actually just grape juice, but I spilled it and got the feather wet. Apparently we only had one feather, so they had to take time out to dry the feather.''
This was just one of the troubles that afflicted ``Restoration.'' The role of Robert Merivel, a raunchy doctor who is assigned to care for the king's dogs and stays to marry his mistress, was first taken by Daniel Day-Lewis. After a falling out, Downey, an Oscar nominee for the title role in ``Chaplin,'' came into the picture.
``If I hadn't done `Chaplin,' I never would have gotten this role,'' he said. Laughing, he added, ``Now, people think I'm an English actor. I can't get work in America.''
Downey decided not to try an English accent, in spite of the setting. ``I practiced in front of a mirror at home and, eventually, I just gave up, asking myself, `What am I trying to prove anyway? They all KNOW I'm American.' ''
Downey, who will be 32 in April, gives the impression of being a childlike gadabout who clearly would prefer to remain a wild thing all his life.
He's a modern Peter Pan, with a heavy dose of mischief added. The son of underground movie maker Robert Downey (``Pound,'' ``Putney Swope''), he admits to petty larceny as a teenager (``mopeds and thousands of dollars of cashmere sweaters''). His bout with drugs has been well-documented.
``Robert is a victim of his own struggles,'' said Michael Hoffman, director of ``Restoration.'' ``I'm sure he knows a lot more about debauchery than I ever will, but he wants to better himself. As an actor, he's right on the edge of greatness.''
Sam Neill (``Jurassic Park''), the Australian actor who plays Charles II, said: ``Robert and I were kindred souls on the set. We both had the wrong accents. Australians get kidded even more than Americans about our speech. But Robert is the best and bravest of his generation. It takes tremendous courage for a young American actor to take a part like this.''
``I don't know if it's gutsy or not,'' Downey countered, ``but I'm game. I'm not particularly modest. I like high stakes.''
If anything, Downey was a bit quieter than in past interviews. After all, he now has a wife, actress Deborah Falconer, and a toddler son, Indio. He married Falconer months after he ended his eight-year affair with actress Sarah Jessica Parker.
At the premiere of ``Soapdish,'' the soap opera spoof, he candidly told me that he was losing all his teeth. ``But, no matter. I'll just put in Chiclets when we're filming,'' he said.
At the opening of ``Home for the Holidays,'' in which he played Holly Hunter's reckless brother, he pretended not to know what an interview was all about. ``Am I supposed to answer questions or what?'' he said. ``The main thing I remember is getting to drive this great sports car. Holly, who had to ride with me, kept telling me (imitating Hunter's Southern drawl) `Don't kill me, Robert. We've got three more scenes to do today.' ''
At the Academy Awards, when he was up for his Chaplin portrayal, he wore a velvet blue coat with a huge, droopy bow at the neck.
``I always knew that I was expected to be an actor,'' Downey said. He made his debut at age 5 when he appeared in his father's film ``Pound.'' All the actors played dogs. He played a puppy.
His follow-up, at age 7, was a part in his father's ``Greaser's Palace,'' a 1972 Biblical allegory set in the Wild West in which his throat was slit by God.
Downey said: ``I never talked to people about what my father did, because, after all, he wasn't directing episodes of `All in the Family.' He made these strange little movies that a lot of people didn't see.''
He says that his older sister, Alison, was always the smart one, ``but I was the one who always made the company laugh.'' When he was 13, his parents divorced. At age 16, he dropped out of Santa Monica High School to go to New York to try acting.
He landed several theatrical jobs in New York, but he describes the worst time in his life as ``when I was stuck in this tiny little apartment, thinking I'd be a busboy all my life. It was then I got this phone call, asking me to be in `Tuff Turf.' ''
A string of roles as high school teens followed. Critics' reactions, generally, were that he was ``the best thing in a lot of bad movies.''
His first star billing came with Molly Ringwald in 1987's ``The Pick-up Artist.'' His first critical notice came in 1987's ``Less Than Cool'' in which he played a doomed cocaine user. The part came too close to echoing his real life. By 1987, he was the graduate of a drug rehabilitation clinic.
Downey remains a favorite party guest on the Hollywood scene. At a recent party at his friend Billy Zane's house, he attempted to jump over the net and congratulate the winner after he lost a game to Tom Cruise. The only trouble was that it was a table tennis game. He smashed the table.
He got the critics' attention for a memorable portrayal of a tabloid TV journalist who exploits a killing spree in ``Natural Born Killers.''
Coming soon to theaters will be his appearance in ``Richard III,'' a modern gangster interpretation of the Shakespeare classic, with Sir Ian McKellan and Annette Bening.
``Again, I don't have to have an English accent,'' he said. ``I'm an American cousin or something.''
Then, he'll be seen in ``Danger,'' which he filmed in Africa.
``I need to keep filming because I'm a compulsive spender,'' he said. ``My son's college money is already gone. I went broke while in England making `Restoration.' There is so much to buy there.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Miramax Films
Robert Downey Jr.
DAVID APPLEBY / Miramax Films
Robert Downey Jr. plays a 17th century English doctor at the court
of King Charles II in ``Restoration.''
by CNB