In order to pay homage to his father, the unconventional underground filmmaker Robert Downey Sr., Robert Downey Jr. set out to create an objective depiction. His father had other ideas. “The key point in this is when he goes, ‘OK, I think we should split into two camps: The (expletive) movie and the one I’m gonna make,’” recalls Downey Jr., laughing. “I just go, ’Man, hats off to you, Pops.”
“Sr.” is a work of father-son harmony
“Sr.,” directed by Chris Smith, is a work of father-son harmony more than might be suggested by Downey Sr.’s typically brusque assertion of filmmaking independence. It’s like a home movie, primarily created by Downey Jr. but with a few cameos from his father. It’s a son’s tender reflection on his iconoclastic father, a free-spirited cult filmmaker whose experimental films gave Downey Jr. his start in the business and whose outlandish personality greatly influenced him, both positively and negatively. “My dad and I are fairly imperfect men,” says Downey Jr.
“It was a way to put something between us in our own relationship and closure. I didn’t know that it would be the quickest way to the heart of things,” Downey Jr. said in a recent interview by phone from Los Angeles alongside his wife and producing partner Susan Downey. “It’s like a little string you pull at, you know. And it winds up pulling you into a rabbit hole that I kind of needed to go down in order to process and ingest the totality of our relationship.”
The Netflix original film “Sr” was created with the goal of capturing his final days
Parkinson’s disease claimed the life of Downey Sr. last year at the age of 85. Downey Sr. wanted it to be in the movie, so it is. The Netflix original film “Sr” was created with the goal of capturing his final days. It was an effort to better understand him, to confront their shared demons, and to once more make a film with him. At the age of five, Downey Jr. made his film debut in his father’s zany dog pound comedy “Pound” in 1970.
“I have a pretty good recall for the entirely of this incarnation, for better or worse,” says Downey Jr., 57. “Those films and projects, I have very clear memories of that. I can still see the Mounds bar that was being handed to me. It was the first prop I ever had to deal with.”
Years before he was the Oscar-nominated actor of “Chaplin” or the star of “Iron Man,” Downey Jr. was, as he says in the film, “just Bob Downey’s kid for a long time.” Absurdist, spontaneous films like 1971’s “Putney Swope” and 1972’s “Greaser’s Palace” made the elder Downey a pivotal countercultural provocateur who defined himself outside of the mainstream.
In “Sr.,” Downey Jr.’s respect for his father and their love for one another are evident
In “Sr.,” Downey Jr.’s respect for his father and their love for one another are evident. But that does not imply that the old guy was always forgiving to his well-known son. What will Sr. think of every movie Downey Jr. ever made was a constant concern. He would receive a thumbs-up roughly every fifteen years.
“I hate to say it, but he was a bit of a snob. Susan and I did a couple of Sherlock movies. He was like, ‘Cute.’ I did a bunch of the Marvel stuff and he goes, ‘Uh uh. Yeah, bomb, bomb. Jokes. Funny robots. I get it.’ I went, ‘Hm. Wow. OK,’” Downey Jr. says. “I remember that he thought ‘Less Than Zero’ was good. He thought ‘Chaplin’ was too episodic. And he really liked that German song I sang when I was 15.”
Stuck by that fresh realization, Downey Jr. exclaims: “We’re finally figuring everything out in real time! Live from the Gestalt Therapy Epicenter of Southern California!” Then he sighs. “So I’m still working for Dad.”