Joe Rogan Experience #1411 - Robert Downey Jr.

boom so we're talking about losing eyesight yes you you actually take comfort in the fact that your eyesight is starting to dwindle you want to chase it at first I was like I'm fine then I'm 42 then it's like let's try some ones then it's 1 to 5 and then it's 1/5 so no I stopped because I have so many [ __ ] glasses some of them are ones some of them are 2 fives it's like it's like you don't mean yeah I dunno but what I appreciate is you know where you're at by what you're able to retain if you fight for it and the things that are going no matter what you do now I've heard there's some Israeli guy who's got this app probably from Laird got this app and you do it you get your eyesight back and sometimes it's about I don't need to try to use something to hold on to everything I want to pick the five or seven things that I definitely want to hold on to and I want to watch the rest of it go in and out with the tides I agree with that in some ways but if there was a real thing where you could get your eyesight back I would definitely be on that don't think lasix this is not real lasix but I know these are real problems you can get it if you have problems with your vision but we have macular degeneration that's coming from age age-related macular degeneration lasix doesn't really fix that but I know people who were wearing glasses and then got lasix and they don't wear glasses anymore that's that's a fact but also we never wore glasses they get one eye to close up and one eye for distance it's even more fun half the eye exams I've gotten and wind-up [ __ ] me two weeks later like these don't work yeah what about the loss of a sense that you are accustomed to being fine annoys you what about it yeah I like being able to see things read labels in particular how many of these [ __ ] are supposed to take know and what's in here yes how many milligrams what's it say also this [ __ ] but it's also funny to go up to like a little Lutron pad and have to go like that to me I just as a gas really interesting accept the things you cannot change now if someone comes in and says Joe Bob I got it we're done come over here it's easy or it's a supplement or do this for two weeks or stop doing this this and this then there's a trade-off yes well I'm down for anything that actually works to make your eyesight come back but I have heard of nothing everybody that I've heard of might be this might be our project then because you care and I don't so we have a nice balance there's a guy named David Sinclair that I talked to is a professor at Harvard yes an American MIT where the [ __ ] is he Harvard he's there doing some work with people that have serious eye diseases and serious injuries and they're actually injecting some form of bacteria that has been encoded with some miracle cure for degeneration and they can detach retinas fix things and incredible yeah so they're working on some stuff yeah so maybe in the future you won't have to ones and one point fives and yeah what am i God I've alighted to greener pastures I'm sure there's going to be other issues and hurdles that you're gonna go iSight real going on here yeah I'm sure - I'm concerned about that do you that thing that you're wearing around your neck yes being as you are obviously known as being Ironman are you concerned with wearing a large thing in the exact same spot everything that life is funny because I was doing this before I ever got fitted for the RT so it was more of our imitating oddball stuff I was doing anyway oh really yeah oh well it's even more interesting because maybe you were born to be iron man because iron man obviously had that from the comic books loosely pre-arranged destiny and what's incredible is how far afield you can go from it and still find your way back yeah well there's been it's the the whole superhero genre thing is so interesting to me because there's so many reboots and there's so many like how many [ __ ] spider-man's have have been how many Hulk's have there been yeah there's only one Iron Man though you got that thus far what yours is here your iron man that looks like this sir certain dudes just own a roll and if anybody else tried to be Iron Man we button well interestingly enough East Coaster a dad of some renowned very different my dad was a kind of a underground filmmaker author maverick I grew up definitely being Bob Downey's seniors kid spent time on Long Island which is I think where Tony was raised yeah but when when Stanley was really thinking that through he it was the Vietnam era and he was thinking about the military-industrial complex he was thinking about how about if I can throw a little bit of not politics in here but karma and he gets shrapnel by the own thing and it becomes you know so and then of course there was the whole demon in the bottle I think he was the first superhero who ever like had that you know almost like yeah hang up his jersey because he's hammered yeah so I mean yeah there was obviously but again once something goes your way you can draw all the parallels you want you can call it destiny but it was it was something that I definitely felt drawn to and I definitely fought for and looking back on and I go why was I fighting because it turned out to be a pretty special thing well it's an amazing thing I mean you embodied it in a very strange way I mean it's inexorable at this point you you know which is why I thought it was cool you're gonna do dr. Doolittle because I love the fact I'm like I'm a fan of your work you've done a lot of great stuff like watch and you you doing dr. Doolittle is like a cool it's I want to say you're not taking yourself seriously but you're taking your trust that I'm not but you're taking I mean this is a fun kids movie about a guy who talks to animals yeah you know I mean that's a great break for because like if you're Ironman like there's certain people that for whatever reason become a role and that is it that's what we will accept you that guy and you're not doing that your your you're able to through your talent and through your ability to take chances you're able to be a bunch of different things as well as be the Iron Man yeah I mean don't we I don't know if I'm noticing anything now it's that it's that we need to shift and we need new challenges and just like MMA in society and politics things are moving and morphing and the information age is making things so everything's learning and growing from everything so quickly and then improving or disproving or or discounting whatever's happening next but for me I heard that this was on the table my missus who's my creative partner in all things said Steve gig and I was like I know Steve gig in Syriana really what did he do he broke I like that's a big turn for him yeah and then I said but why why do I want to and I looked out and we live on a on a rescue farm we have real Packers and goats and Cooney Cooney pigs and you know it's just crazy and I was like okay same way I did with Ironman a little bit I was like all right there's something here and then before I signed on I was just googling like weirdest Welsh doctor I just want to think of I don't want to just do another English accent so there's this guy William Price who's a nutty Welsh doctor he was a neo druid st was someone who believed like we could communicate with all nature and all that stuff so I sent a picture of this wild looking guy wearing like a suit stars on it and like a staff in his hand I sent that to gig and he goes that looks right to me I was like great let's do this movie literally that's that it's always it you know any mean it's always that thing of you click and you go here's my here's here's my sense what do you think and and then the other the gal or the guy says yeah let's lean into that and then you go but do this and that anybody give me some of this and you go yeah and all of a sudden you're in a synergy it's like a good interview like a good fight like a good dinner it's just kind of the gentleman right there that's a crazy look yeah to me I just thought that's can do little be like Daddy goes to so you have to be that way the whole way through I go no no when they find him he's a recluse and then the animals like clean him up and then he looks less fun handsomer would you left less weird for the kids for the rest of the movie but let's find him like that this this concept of things just sort of falling into place I'm a big believer in that - what what is that though is that you getting out of your own way like what is that is it isn't that 70% of it yeah yeah I say it's 70% maintenance of what can I do to do my part to stay out of the way and then the other part I always think of it as like this little super thin invisible thread but you can feel the tug and you just kind of you have to be really gentle and you have to pause when agitated and you have to go for it when you're gonna like there's four walls in here which one has the map behind at you it's that one and you knock down the wall and it's there you know yeah what is that though that's a synchronicity yeah intuition but labeling it it's very dangerous because it's so filled with woo so it's you know there's so many people that are hucksters that have like made a career out of sort of like labeling it and defining it or teaching you how to get to it it's great because it's the commodity that you can't capitalize on and yet if you don't show proof of its existence you you can't even you shouldn't even be qualified to speak on it I don't know that's the big I don't know but when it happens whether it happens with love or with friendship or with a career with a path you're taking you just know while there's a smile there's an inner smile like yeah this is it well-put I found it this is it this is it I'm supposed to be doing this here we go here we go yeah and I really feel it's so funny at this point in my life and being you know kind of middle-aged and all that well I know I'm gonna fly around the world I'm gonna sell some soap and I know I have a new project and I know I've just retired my Jersey on this 12-year journey been on and and how do I want to start and it came up how would you like it go yes that's exactly what happened to I'm gonna go have the Joe Rogan experience and and kick off this year in this season and this new chapter by doing what I love which is a an interview as we're looking at each other and if there's a give-and-take is the door to Ironman totally closed because I don't believe it is oh you guys can go through time now you can go there's there was you know you already opened up that door let me ask you the question if I pick the jersey back up and put it on wouldn't you feel a little bit like oh no crap no oh here's what here's the right thing they go through a few semi lackluster Avengers movies without you ready for this I'm ready here's the scene there's a moment where the world's fate is at stake and they've realized they need a super genius and then they figure out how to restart that time machine great come on is that you the audience sees you when you step out of that thing is this your and can we you want a little arc on it too because if this is your idea then you got to show up for it too I'll do it I'll show up what I have to do I don't know I'll do whatever I have to do we all have to do whatever Kevin pie thing they do it's digital I'll hold that digital thing I'll do it but the way people would freak out if you came back hmm come on think about it take a few years off if you dr. Dolittle's a couple more Sherlock Holmes you know it's interesting watching Eddie Murphy in this last little period of time and I was talking to Colin Jost last night who got to sit next to him at the Golden Globes and who was there and I'm you know on the show and writing for him with him when he hosted recently many go it's just incredible our culture never encourages taking a break never encourages saying don't chase that thing because you've got it in your hands and and and I love the idea that if you're you you're good at what you do then it's not about time it's about it doesn't matter when you decide to pick up the mantle again it's just about but it's scary isn't it could you imagine like if they just said hey Joe just don't do the show for four years and then come back and do it again you'd be like a lifetime who knows yeah well with Eddie what's interesting is he was arguably the greatest of his era and just stopped yeah just stop for 30 years and no one does that no one who's that good and then when you see him I don't whew ever saw him he received some award and he was on a panel you know and I was sitting in front of him rather rather and he was talking about Bill Cosby and he was doing this routine about them taking away Bill Cosby's awards okay and it was [ __ ] brilliant and the timing was so good in all of us comics were just sitting there going he could do it tomorrow he could just get up there tomorrow and he'd be [ __ ] murdering yes and but it would be different it'd be different he's a different human yeah you know this one of the more interesting things about it it's him talking about some of the more homophobic stuff that he did in the past now it makes him cringe and you just can't believe he was that person but you know he was when he did delirious I think he was like 22 or something crazy like that which is just bonkers so he was not good anyway I've been thinking about him lately in relation to a bunch of things but also just that particularly nowadays giving yourself permission to not have to jump because you know as strike the iron's hot all that stuff exists and maybe it's just as a bit of an anxiety to the times which I remember - speaking of past generations I remember grown up 1974 Nixon's black-and-white TV getting impeached my dad and his buddies are whooping it up but they're still pissed and I'm going like wow it's it's not worse or better it's different but now it's on us yeah so there's the a bit of an urgency and that that whole thing and just being able to say like so to answer your question to me starting up again is off the table I feel I've done all I could that character there'd have to be a super compelling argument in a series of events that that made it obvious to it but the other thing is I want to do other stuff right of course yeah and of course you know what you're talking about about Nixon and people get it people can lose themselves in current events and what I mean what I mean by that like it doesn't necessarily completely your life is more than what's going on in Washington you know 100 Thompson talked about that when he was running for sheriff in Aspen he was talking about how local politics like your neighborhood that's real yeah this actually can affect your life like what's going on in Washington how much does that affect your day to day existence it's very little though for some people it becomes an enormous portion of the real estate of their mind it it takes over most of their day-to-day consciousness where they're consumed with it and it becomes a thing they're cheering for or they're rooting against and and then you know your life revolves on something that you have very little power over teams turf wars yeah interests yeah think globally act locally yes it's a beautiful statement really is it's one of those cliches that you don't even think about but then I didn't know that was hunter in that picture out there to me it look like Joe Walsh could as easily fit Joe Walsh I mean he moved to Colorado - oh wow yeah the Rocky Mountain Way yeah he once told me he'll speak out of school he said now honey you should just watch TV for a year thanks Joe he's probably right probably right look if you just hung back and just did nothing but watch TV for a year the [ __ ] ideas you would have you'd have you you probably have a really rock solid idea of what's going on his was more trying to have enough things going on but I wouldn't have any ideas for a year and then I give myself a break for you maybe that's good to see you reverently I'm thinking like analyzed the blends I think Jo Wallace is one of the most underrated guys ever because he changed the [ __ ] Eagles the Eagles were one thing and then Joe Walsh came around like victim of love that's Jill Walsh yeah he came around and just and all sudden there was a rock to it it's like they were kicking down doors and light and [ __ ] on fire it was different there was an edge to it you know he's he added crazy he had a crazy - this is a beautiful harmony and I love it when the guys that added crazy go up to the thin veil between dimensions and say I think I'm gonna stay put yeah and then all of a sudden they represent stability they represent being okay hanging up your guns yeah and just being you know well that's that's everything everyone has to accept that at some point in time right I mean maybe that's you and your glasses right because everyone has to accept that at one point time you're gonna have to get off the ride but when you're doing great and you're kicking it like boxers are a perfect example they always last too long there's only been a small handful like Andre Ward recently Marvelous Marvin Hagler in his prime they just go that's it I'm done and they actually are done almost every one of them comes back and almost every one of them chases that dragon here's what I love you you're making an argument for and also the argument against me coming back and doing another yeah listen I'm not married to anything except my wife but I'm not married to any ideas all the ideas that I have are just like hmm maybe that idea sucks I love you as Iron Man so I would I would if you if they opened up this time machine and you popped out I just imagine the moment where everybody goes [ __ ] crazy it would be amazing to be great I would love that but I would also love you hanging it up yeah it's a look it's just first of all it's 2020 and I'm not an OCD guy but I keep thinking see clearly see clearly even if your vision is going and it's difficult because by I feel like we all just get buffeted by feelings and the ego or fears or little you know chips of resentments or intuitions that are tied to something maybe higher but you think is out of your reach or whatever so it was a perfect time and I got to go have dinner with a bunch of the Marvel folks last night and kind of have just a little bit of extra closure because you know the movie came out and it you know was bananas and the directors are sending me pictures of like people flipping out in theaters when Tony snaps and I was like whoa this was kind of like a really big cultural thing but then like Victoria Alonso who's the head of VFX for all these movies a literal super genius or Kevin Feige or a Favreau or Scarlett or some people that I've just have been there with it for a long time we we we were there experiencing it all when it came out and then we see each other on a red carpet and it's not intimate and then we kind of hadn't really had a chance just to do nothing just hang out and you know have some crudité and kind of talk [ __ ] so it was really interesting being here today because yesterday was this kind of last night was this kind of real like felt like closing the circle on things a bit that's got to be bittersweet yeah but I like that I'd like that you want to move on and I like that you want to and I like that you're doing something like dr. Doolittle because that's and that like you've done a lot of wild [ __ ] in your life you've got a lot of wild [ __ ] in your career but you sort of embody every new chapter with the same kind of energy although there's a different result and different piece of art it's all the same you and that's one of the more interesting things about people and particular actors because actors get to be a bunch of different things and it's one of the weirder things about that craft like when you see you know a guy who's like Daniel day-lewis like embodies these different humans like literally becomes different humans it's but it's always Daniel day-lewis you know I mean like even though he plays these these you know that there will be blood guy and all these different Psychopaths and various fascinating characters it's always the energy like you're pumped to see him do it right and I think that's I feel the same way with you it's like I know there's you're an interesting guy there's a lot of [ __ ] going on in your head so when you dive into something whatever it is whether it's your character from Tropic Thunder or whatever it is like you're you're gonna it's gonna be Robert Downey jr. dive in InDesign so I would imagine it would be kind of annoying even though you are brilliant at Ironman to stay Ironman yeah well fortunately I don't have to find out right it's it's just interesting to you know life is doing something and and you know I met at this place it's also it it baffles me confidence what is what does it really mean there's a period of time where I felt like I did I did the first Ironman and then I went and did Tropic Thunder and then I was doing the first Sherlock and I had my shirt off and I was doing Marshall I was like I was all over the place and it just felt like I was I was hitting triples no matter what I did and and then people are like are you really as confident as you seem and I was like I guess right now I am yeah and then and I think this goes I mean this reminds me we were just talking about the McGregor cowboy fight coming up you know it's like it's you gonna go to that I'm gonna watch it how can you not watch it you know - brilliant souls who cannot lose neither one of them can afford to lose this fight wow that is a matchup yeah particularly cowboy doesn't want to lose there's no but there's this guy who's the the poster child the guy who's the the one right the chosen one that's Conor and then this cowboy who's like I think I can [ __ ] that guy up the journeyman yeah yeah so confidence you know there's been times when I felt I'm in possession of it and then you want to let go a little bit because it's only ever the moment and life guiding you the wind is so at your back there Wow are you just are you just you know jumping over the waves and all that by yourself and you're like you bet I am but there's a physics to the moment man moment machine whatever and the wind's at your back and then the wind does what the [ __ ] windows and it changes and if you're left there thinking what you know so I think it's great to be in full possession of what you would call supreme confidence and then see what happens if you don't hold on to it so hard because it's great but it is a bit of an illusion because like everything else it's always changing and every day the reset button the spacebar gets pressed and it's like now what yeah the reset button yeah yeah you kind of have to have a confidence to jump into some of the roles that you've taken though but I see what you're saying like that you don't want to hold on to it because it could come go I remember Warren Beatty who I learned so many amazing things from of tuna movie called the pickup artists with Molly Ringwald I remember okay and he was kind of the de-facto producer of it uncredited and taught me a lot about just acting and what it was and he said he said what's your what's your action in this scene and I was like oh no he's asked me so I was like my action I'm picking up girls he does what's your action in this scene and I was like I'm driving a car and he asked me like you know that things sometimes when someone asks you a question and just you get caught flat-footed and you guys know your action is you're trying to go to work but you're getting distracted by this addiction you have to trying to get laid so your action is you're trying to get to work and I was like oh yeah he's right and you said always know what your action is because then when you come in in the morning confident or when you're come in in the morning that can't hit your ass with both hands you know what to do mmm so to me one of the great lessons I learned from him was oh yeah just boiled down what it is you're doing whether there's a camera around or just what am i doing today today I'm showing up and I'm trying to be honest and and also to to listen and learn but really my action today is I'm today is I'm beginning a process of promotion Warren Beatty's another guy who learned how to put his guns down yeah yeah that's like yeah I think I remember watching that Madonna movie remember when he was dating Madonna truth or dare yeah and he's hanging around with her you know she's in the throes of Fame and everything he's like yeah like he's never seen it yeah but he's an older gentleman now he's honest and you know he's hanging out with her and just shaking his head and you know that kind of marked it for me or Warren Beatty just realize all right let me step away real quick if I had to talk to him one things I would ask him is what was it like when Carly Simon writes a song about you that's got to be a trip I so many I mean we should if you we should do a whole session just about things I learned from Warren Beatty yeah I'm telling you I would imagine he's a brilliant guy clearly do you think that you could do Tropic Thunder today would that be possible oh you could do it and again like Eddie you know I look back to me that movie to me was a circle back to my dad's movie called Putney Swope which I highly recommend anyone who hasn't seen to see about a black guy who takes over an ad agency in the 60s because everyone votes for him when the head of the company dies because they think no one else will and it's about what happens when someone who is free-spirited takes over and essentially corrupt endeavor and then he realizes and confronts his own corruption but I remember I was probably two or three when that was being shot and when it came out and it was so a part of my upbringing and I just remembered some of the folks that were around my dad at that time and so when Ben called and said hey I'm doing this thing and you know I think maybe Sean Penn it passed possibly wisely and I thought yeah I'll do that and I'll do that after Ironman and then I started thinking the system wait a minute and then I thought well hold on dude get real here where is your heart and my heart is a I get to I get to be black for a summer so there's something in it for the other thing is I get to hold up to nature the insane self-involved hypocrisy of artists and what they think they're allowed to do on occasion just my opinion and also Ben who is a masterful artist and director probably the closest thing to a Charlie Chaplin that I've experienced in my hell the time he writes he directs he acts he if you had seen him when he was directing this movie he would have been like I'm watching David Lean I'm watching Chaplin I'm watching Coppola he he knew exactly what the vision for this was he executed it it was impossible to not have it be an offensive nightmare of a movie and 90% of my black friends were like dude that was great you know I can't disagree with them but I know where my heart was yeah and I think that it's never an excuse to do something that is out of place and not of its time but to me it was just putting a it was a blasting cap on and by the way I think white chicks came out pretty soon after that I was like I love that like that was great so you know well it might be the last time we see that unless things change it seems like no one can really I don't think you could do blackface anymore I mean we almost lost the Prime Minister of Canada because he did brown face yes pretended to be Saudi Arabian right you did Arabian Nights in the high school or something like that it's it's an interesting and necessary meditation on where is the pendulum why is the pendulum right yeah where is the pendulum maybe cutting a little into what could be perceived as as heart in the right place openness of its time but again I mean you know there's a morality clause here on this planet and it's a big price to pay and I think having a moral psychology is is job one so sometimes you just got to go yeah you know I effed up again not in my defense but Tropic Thunder was about how wrong that is yes so I take exception but no it's I think you could do it today I think you could I think it could be done today there would be so much outrage but there would also be people cheering and if you if we got we boiled down all the [ __ ] and got to the actual result of what the film did it's [ __ ] hilarious to this day I watched it again about a year and a half ago it's a great movie it's a great fun movie I mean it's it's ridiculous over-the-top hilarious and it worked and and your portrayal I mean it wasn't it wasn't egregious it wasn't there was it was necessary it made sense all of it fit it all the square pegs and square holes I was just thinking squared I don't know why I was thinking oh it was thinking about Sarah Jessica Parker on the ride over there like crazy I think I drove by at that Warner Park near here yeah yeah I think she went to school over there when she was doing her show anyway interesting yeah it it worked and but it was it might be the last time we'll ever see a studio take a chance on a guy wearing blackface and the the prolific use of the word [ __ ] those are two things and by the way that's our abend but the funny thing too was all the heat got deflected to Ben and simple Jack yeah that's what people were pissed off about my golden great but you never know when it's gonna be your time in the barrel you know sometimes sometimes life just says you know what and and I've been on both sides of that coin sometimes life just says your symbol now did you have anybody that was telling you not to do it with their abundance or anyone else my mother was horrified really Bobby I am telling you I have it bad feeling I was like yeah me too mom but uh anyway how are we how are it first is that would they put the makeup on you how are you sweating there's been a couple times I was all the night before I'm gonna run kawaii and I was like well here we go and I was just running I think I had six lines that day but I knew that there was going to be choppers that was gonna be a squib fire there was going to be choreography that was going to be you know it was gonna be a cacophonous and the only thing that mattered to me again what's my action my action is an actor in this movies to know what I'm doing even if what I'm doing is insane so I ran those six or eight lines I had a thousand times lying in bed over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again so the next day I was free to enjoy myself and not be struggling to wonder what it was I was supposed to be doing and then that's what it is it was just you know there was one little mosaic after the next and and by the end of it I had some pride that AI had made it through forget that it was you know the black face it was a special-effects makeup day after day after day after day after day after day after day except for the times when I would have my bleached hair and blue contacts in my eyes or you know other characters and it was just a it was a piece of work I was doing and I cared about doing it as professionally and as honestly as I could so when you memorize lines that's an interesting thing you said that you were free to to do it like when you memorize lines is there ever a part like when you're acting where you have to think like okay what am I supposed to say next and how much does that get in the way this look I have a very broad band of of tolerances I don't care if the people I'm with happen to not know what they're doing or don't know their lines are stepping on my lines or or whatever or want to change their lines and my lines and it's always a different thing it's like reading the room it's like you know if I was a fighter you go into the Octagon and there they go you ready you ready and you go and then you just do it you go in but so I've had it where I would try to be off-book before everyone else I would get it down to an acronym so if there was a thousand words I had to remember I would just remember the first letter of each and I would put it on a piece of poster board and then I would stand away from it not as far as you and your your archery set up over there but far enough away to where I can see it but kind of can't see it back when my vision was a little more clear and I would just run it and run it and run it when I did the first Sherlock we were rewriting it so much and I would have pages and pages of stuff I was like give me an earwig and it helped me with my accent and then I started getting into like you know what's so great I can finish work go home hang out with my kids or do whatever I want to do go train and in the morning they can change it all they want I don't have to trip if at all if you know unless it's some monologue that you want to really be committed to that's not going to shift I'm just go like that so you put one of those little earpieces in and they would feed you to Lions yeah yeah and now I've kind of gone as far as you can go with that and I'll probably go back to a new method or a new version of the old method so it's basically improvisational like you in in the moment you decide with whatever preparation going to do for each role how you gonna do it whether you're gonna go and memorize everything obsessively or whether you're just gonna be a little bit more loose and free with it yes it depends on the script too like Tropic Thunder Justin Theroux wrote that script with with yes really good script I mean my mrs. who next to my mother would you know with I'm probably more so is that the opinion I was really waiting on and she was reading in the kitchen laughing her ass off she goes this is so wrong this is so wrong and she goes and it's so true now if you do this right you're you're doing something that's it's about a bunch of self-involved idiots somehow or other becoming heroes and she goes I love that if that's what it stays and it's gonna be good and so like for instance the you know never go yeah full no by the way I guarantee you I'm getting out of here my stock is not plummeting when I leave here I'm not smoking dope I'm not doing a musk I'm gonna do everything right stock went up the next day all right drop six one up nine with you yeah it just changes it just changes and I also know that I don't really know that much and it's different every time anyway but some I really like when you have a loose concept of what you're doing there's certain parts that aren't going to change much and the rest you discover so the first iron man I mean John and I in there and the writers or John and I we we were just would write you write a line I'll write a line and then we would we were literally watching the puppies be born as we did it frustrating for people who not gwyneth because she can look at a piece of paper and then go okay I get it and she's got it all memorized she's amazing but what's for the highest good sometimes it's very self-indulgent to come in and like you know hand out new pages or say oh I'm not saying that so feed me that way you know what I mean you need an environment of respect but I like I like discovering things how much of acting is managing those weird relationships that you have with these other people that you're acting with like you you've made some references to like people changing other people's lines and not being prepared I got out of acting for that very reason that was the thing that I I went from a world of stand-up comedy which are just a bunch of crazy people to actors which are a bunch of crazy people but in a different way yep and the managing all the different characters and all the different personalities how hard is that that seems like that could really get in the way well yeah sure can and it's like a thumbprint every time you're a new project it's a completely different you know fingerprint you know you never know what you're gonna get and sometimes projects seem blessed and sometimes you could say they're cursed but again my Susan Downey Esquire was talking about this yesterday she goes it's the only thing you can't overcome as a creative producer on a big movie or anything is in principle no matter what happens you can fix it we lost the light oh the Thunder the weather came in okay he got sick oh she's oh she's pregnant okay great they changed the costume you can't overcome personalities yeah the relationships that people have with each other do you meet up before you commit to a role do you ever say like I want to meet Captain America I'm find out what the [ __ ] that guy's really like I mean I love that you think I had to have the authority did you catch this guy hurry let me get a taste of I'm really interested in doing that but we all have a group dinner yeah these guys - oh my mo is always let's mine melt let's get together let's work weekends let's spend time together because you can't replace that familiarity but so you have to try to build it and sometimes it happens very naturally like I adore Chris Evans I can't even tell you why he's a Boston guy he's technically and it's such a brilliant actor but he also doesn't take himself seriously he's flaky but he's the first guy you would want to have your back if something went down he's and and and yet we're different enough where I feel like by being who we are and then both having those characters we were able to I think I thought I thought Civil War was a special moment in the in the arc of the Marvel films about turning one against the other and what it meant and and so sometimes you just get lucky as a matter of fact the whole Marvel Universe possibly without exception just happens to be a really well what do you call that when you when you put together something curated group of souls mmm well it's interesting because people take superhero movies seriously now like now superhero movies are films that happen to be about superheroes whereas you know for the longest time superhero movies were [ __ ] you know the TV shows were kind of clunky they were campy you know it was Batman with the silly pants on and Robin I bought it everything was a bang boom that remember you'd see the big boom absolutely and yet who was in the first Superman Brandon yes right there was always a seed of an attempt to legitimize something that was otherwise two-dimensional the Superman was probably the first film that really did that right and then Batman yeah then the Batman series but again how many goddamn Batman's have it been right I'm I want to see what Pattinson does oh that's right he's gonna be Batman now I like that guy we've how many spider-man's have there been that that's the most right 3boy3 yeah and three Hulk's right at least one two three not counting the TV show well counting the TV show for the time TV oh you're right Eric Bana you're right yeah Norton yep mark Mark Ruffalo who I think is he's my favorite oh he was just born for it yeah it's perfect yeah you believe him yeah and again his whole thing was what's my action is like you know how do you guys manage this giant CGI thing like how does that work like when you're on the set that seems like one of the weirdest parts about acting and some of those Avenger films is how much of it is actually digital yeah you just kind of get used to it um I'll digress it a movie with Richard Linklater called Scanner Darkly and it was rotoscope so great luck a movie I love that movie love him and then Keanu and I and woody and Winona and it was this cool thing and we would shoot these scenes and he would say oh you can just leave your your body Mike on the outside because there's paint the whole thing so that rotoscoping is a great metaphor for essentially what the Marvel movies became when sometimes you would even go and I'm supposed to come in and like you know throw something and the it was off-camera but everything else was great Oh we'll just move your arm later and you go wow so you never want to rest on your laurels and say you know but after a certain while I was like why am i wearing this this this football suit just put some dots on my shoulders so I can move more freely and they'd be like all right I go honestly what are you really using this all this stuff I'm wearing for it they go for reference I go great so I'll wear it for one take and then I'll take it off and I don't relax a little bit but then other people would be like or Bettany would be like I'm stuck in this [ __ ] thing done you know purple so everybody got to join in on the joys and the miseries of the of the the technical challenge of doing it and speaking of ruffalo by the end because he's smart hulk he literally they were just making big wherever he was and they put a little you know a piece of PVC with a big Hulk head up about five feet over where his head was and he was just there in a green suit so in a tracking suit with like his package out you know and he'd be like let me just at least tie like a little sarong around mice come on guys and so I think mark went about as far out into the ionosphere of fcg as you can I didn't get the whole smart smart Hulk thing I didn't get how they how he figured that out wasn't really yeah like Hulk is supposed to be Hulk right supposed to be the alter it's like one you can control one is one of the the genius scientists exactly what is the beast but after so many times and again this is the genius of the people who break his shape stories over there Feige and his team as they go he's Hulk and he's not hulkees Hulk it's a big battle always so conflicted what if he could meet himself in the middle and then what corner have we painted ourselves in by having him meet himself in the middle because then you can't ever if that doesn't work you can't go back to the way it was you've done it or you can go back to the way it was so I just think that the the real genius of the Marvel creative team is they and the Russo brothers who did the last few Avengers infinity war and end games ago we love writing ourselves into a corner we love it because then it it activates all of those how do we get out of purgatory juices and then you get the next right idea now when you guys sit down and when you first receive a script for one of these things do they consult with you do they discuss this with you did they just lay it out and say this is this is the character arced how do you how do you feel about this what do you think yeah and and but it's changed over time I think if you're one of the folks has their standalone movies like Scarlett has Black Widow coming out I think you take a I would you take a bit of a different attack in how much meaning I think that phrase the legal phrase for actors and studios is meaningful consultation not script approval because then anybody could hold the studio hostage because I don't approve this thirty million dollars that you're trying to spend right so your schedules fine when you say I don't approve I picture a bathrobe and I pictured fine china and teacups that's how I picture I don't approve and then just storming off I've had my moments too because I'm so passionate about story but again after more seat time with the same people and new people coming in and getting a pretty brutal education on what kind of process these movies require you you you just start trusting more that they're thinking on your behalf and also little things are easy to change big things become a inconvenience to the higher good and at what point do you want to pull the air brake on something where the the trains you know already leaving the station well I would imagine it would be a fine line that they have they want the the actor to be comfortable with the character and they want some and maybe some feedback would be beneficial but they're also they have a path the vision that they've created yeah they would like to see you somehow or another at least morph slightly to get on this path yeah yeah and by the way after I had my second round of kids with Susan I became both artistically I had a bit of a Renaissance when I was doing the third Ironman and then after that too I was like well now I'm gonna do this Avengers and there's so many moving parts and it's so difficult just to get all these schedules to coincide and get everyone together that I'm not gonna be like I'm not feeling it so again it's that thing it's a it's sometimes what do they say faster alone further together sometimes you can only think about further because you gotta get downfield other times you're thinking hey this is my moment to run and I need I need a little help and a little approval and I need a little leeway but that's any creative endeavor I would imagine when you're involved in something that's so epic when it's actually over it probably almost fien seems surreal because the production is so massive there's so many moving pieces there's so many special effects so many things that you you to sort of visualize while you're doing it and then after it's all over you're done and what is it like what is a big Avengers movie how many months are you involved in this well I mean it could be some part of eighteen months to two years depending on how far out you are and then four to six months of principal photography and then additional photography and then post and then I always include promotion you know from yeah yeah from soup to nuts I think is the phrase soup to nuts yeah that's a Joel Silver phrase one of my uh-huh one of my great great friends and probably one of the greatest big movie producers of all time we did the Sherlock's with him he did the Matrix series my missus was running his company for ten years Kiss Kiss Bang Bang which is I think in some ways the best film I've ever done wound up being a calling card it came out and it bombed and but Jon Favreau saw it and he said this guy could do an action movie and so that wound up being my calling card into the Marvel Universe but to answer the question it can be anticlimactic like anything I mean this is surreal you know I never I maybe seen you around a little bit but I feel like I know you because I see you all the time and I listen to you and I'm a I'm a a martial arts nut and yeah isn't it sometimes you when you when you get outside of the fortunate interesting creative experience you're having you kind of go like it's very dreamlike yeah yeah my whole life is a dream yeah except for the ramifications the rimsky those come back a bite in this kid this is dangerous yeah I used to I remember the first time I met Phil Hartman I was stunned that I was actually like sitting we were at a stable Reid sitting across from and I'm like how the [ __ ] you're a famous guy like you're a really famous guy I've seen you in movies man yes you've seen you on television here you are right there how weird you know and it seems it's very hard to be normal and then after a while if that becomes normal and then the the fact that it becomes normally comes surreal and then it really feels like a dream like when I meet people like you like we've just met an hour or so ago yet instantly I feel like I know you yeah yeah it's very strange but you also you're not full of [ __ ] you know when someone's not full of [ __ ] it's pretty easy to get to know them you say something I say something back i I know how it works I see what's going on in there this is actual human here we go we're talking there's a good litmus to because you watch your show pretty clear and I just love it to you because in your show you literally you just you start as a rolling start with you every time you come into the show and you're already kind of thinking about stuff so it's it feels very organic and part of me even this morning was like I hope he looks into my eyes and doesn't see a complete and utter foolish frog because I would probably believe him if he made that back to me oh no that's it that's a danger right yeah if someone if you respect someone and they think you're a [ __ ] idiot but there's been times when in just being myself someone who I respect as looked at me and said what are we talking about yeah what are you even sure and you remember that because it kind of yeah stiff arms you but part of those are good because it realized what you were probably off on a [ __ ] stupid tangent yeah and that's part of being a person you know part of being a person is like I don't know what the next word out of my mouth is going to be right now no one ever does unless you do and if you do is kind of weird some people are poker players I respect some people that are that because there's a an ability to if maybe it's fear-based but I always appreciate people who you know as people like their icons or big shots or that they hold a certain esteem and all of their texts are very simple it's like yes yes we should fix that sure yeah Shores my favorite okay on it yeah yeah no periods either beats the all-caps text oh I don't like those at all those people weird although Ct Fletcher he sends me all huh I love him but he's shouting at everything everything is a shout yeah but yeah the surreal part is um I think part of the reason I'm still so interested not just in in life but also you know getting to do what I do is I'm a fan I love movies I love creativity I love music I love I love culture and the fact that I actually have a place in it while I'm observing it and digging it is like it's it's it's an honor well that's a beautiful perspective and that shows in how you you carry yourself and it shows in the work that you do that you do appreciate it you know one of the saddest things is someone who's in an amazing position who doesn't appreciate it and and that that drives other people crazy to like prima donnas drive people crazy for a variety of reasons but one of the big ones is you don't appreciate how fortunate you are like and people love when people appreciate good fortune and appreciate a well earned position and are you know engrossed in a beautiful life of something that they really enjoy and something that really inspires them hmm well I I need to I need to be kept right-sized because I can easily fall into self-seeking and depression and self-pity and judgment and all that stuff it's kind of a it's a bit of a default but I spend enough energy and I've had enough help over enough years to actually just say oh that's that's just awful destructive behavior you're entertaining in your head you know bad patterns just bad thought patterns yeah yeah we think we could all fall into those I'm ruthlessly self-critical and it's for me sometimes it's very hard to step outside and and just just take a pause and and recognize that not everything is gonna be right the first time you try it you know I think that a lot of people that are really great at things it's one of the things about them is that they're not very satisfied with their work like they're always looking to improve it they're always looking for it to be better and then that can start that cycle in their head of self-loathing and anxiety and anger there at their performance or their work or whatever it is that and and then that can lead to depression and that can lead to just self hate yeah and what are your tolerances like that I'll be the first to tell you like you know do certain movies or move it in Tropic Thunder or one of the first you know Iron Man movies I was like I go over to the monitor I'd be like play that back again that was so good dude let me see that again I need confirmation yeah because it's always a miracle you stayed in frame you got the line right your eyeline was right the lighting was right the sensibility was right and you just look at it you go oh you know it's like I don't know for me it's like the playback of the perfect Superman punch ko and just go show me that again yeah or when we were shooting Tropic Thunder I had a little teaser clip for Ironman but it wasn't coming out until the next year and we were gonna go to Comic Con and I so I got to see it and show it to people and they're like oh I think that's that movie's gonna do pretty good and then when we went to Comic Con we saw it but it used to be like that with music - like I write music I haven't for some time but you would write something and then you just listen to it on the loop because you go wow that's not I know that I was here and I did that but it feels kind of inspired and yeah and you want to get on that stuff but yes how critical is important as long as it doesn't bleed out into and over the edges and just make it run are miserable right again get out of your own way yeah again I mean that's one of the many tenants of life learn how to get out of your wall your own way with everything including with creative endeavors it seems like that that thing that you said about music most people who write things or create things say that the it's you they know they're doing it like if you make a great sculpture you know you're doing it but where is it coming from like what is what is the idea that manifests itself into this perfect thing that you could step back and look at and it seems surreal that how did I create that did I I don't know if I did I mean I definitely made my fingers move but I don't know if that's me who wrote that music who performed it I know you did but there's a thing inside you that sort of like Tunes in to this this energy of ideas and then it comes through you and again you kind of have to get out of your own way while you're writing something and then when it comes out it's a weird feeling it's not like like if you hammer a nail into a board you [ __ ] are very aware you did that you're very aware but there's something about the creative process that's not you're not totally there it's weird yeah because it is you and it isn't you right it was you even mean I love it we always hear it too in sports it's like you know oh you know you know how to go today Federer oh I was out of my mind I was not in my mind it was a beautiful day and I think you saw the results yeah you know sure effortless poetic well fighters talk about that all the time that like especially a counter shot like they land something and they don't even have any idea they're gonna do it and they did it and then it caused the knockout it's their training manifests itself in this one special beautiful moment where bang this thing happens and then they see the guy drop and like holy [ __ ] oh yeah and then they they walk away and it's the work it's it's there's so many things involved right there's so many moving pieces you have to be working on your own mind to learn how to get out of your own way you also have to be like really engrossed in whatever the activity is that you're doing like obsessed in love with it passionate about it and then you have to have the discipline to show up and actually do the work there's so many different moving Pete and it all has to be managed and it's not solid it's like it's like a [ __ ] raft on the ocean it's moving around you're always trying to like figure out how to keep it keep it moving and functional it always seems on man after it's over I was like oh [ __ ] that even work yeah we call it the fader board yeah all right you know how'd he get it all and honestly particularly in the last 15 years when I started really taking martial arts seriously half the stuff that I've been able to do right in my creative life are principles that I learned on the mat with my Sifu mmm you know guards your Center keep your eye on the lead elbow get to the Blind Side you know how often you do that was started I think I'm in 15th or 16th year Sifu was over day before yesterday so you know a bunch of times a week and if I'm working on something or if he can make it the location will have long stretches where we're doing it every day and there's gradings so you got a prep for those you know mm-hmm it's so what are you doing you're doing kung fu like is it a very particular style traditional Wing Chun really yeah which is very underrated art form yes also so many trade secrets and so different than how I see it when I'm looking at videos and that in UFC everything is out in the open and it's discussed and you see and a lot of de stern stuff there was a turf wars and we're not really going to show them our footwork we're not going to do this so but anyway it's been a real deep dive with my seafood era quorum whose seafood my seat gun was grand master William Cheung renowned kind of hong kong rooftop fights all that stuff amazing lore but very technical difficult to build and easy to use you know it's you very rarely see that in the UFC but one of the best fighters in the UFC uses it regularly Tony 20 Ferguson 20 Ferguson uses trapping hands the MOOC Jung yeah he grabs wrists and comes over the top with elbows he does straight wing chun he does it all the time and he even practices on a wooden wooden dummy yeah I got my ass kicked by a wooden dummy for about three years and then I finally understood the principle of don't fight for some force and you know it's just nuts so anyway half the time if I would be in a critical artistic situation I would just say because Wing Chun problems are life problems life problems are Wing Chun problems and I would just go back to how did this kind of relate to because I don't like getting clocked and getting my teeth knocked in because we tend to sometimes we glove up but we're not wearing mouthpieces it's very well it's certainly not because he's very good at pulling his punches and he's also even better at making sure that I don't accidentally hit him but we get as close as we can to what the the real experience would be but again it's like everything I'm sure you know a few clicks back down the road there's things that instructors were doing that would be considered illegal to do to a group of students nowadays yeah for sure so not just a few clicks while I was coming out that's what that's what I would imagine yeah there's students would get beat up normal you so did you start training for Sherlock Holmes or you start training before I did it absolutely coincided with my recovery and the two things just somehow or other seem to to lock in and and talk to you off the record and afterwards about any and everything to do with my recovery as far as it locked him with this it was an apprentice and apprenticeship and it was an apprenticeship that was contingent on me being in a certain headspace mmm well it's a good thing too because it's an it's a addictive thing people get very addicted to martial arts and it's a good substitute for sometimes negative addictions you know Bourdain before he died he was obsessed with Brazilian jiu-jitsu yeah became really obsessed with it at 58 when and got really good he was he was training every day and he was trained twice a day every day so he went from when I first met him he was chubby he was smoking cigarettes he drank every night still kind of still drank every night but you know he just did enough to enough healthy things keep his body together and then his ex-wife got really into jujitsu and then he decided to follow her one day to classes and he was kind of mocking it and laughing at it at first and then became obsessed and then really got good I mean he was and at the the guy wanted a tournament I mean oh my god yeah he's [ __ ] 60 years old what's really crazy is a picture of him walking down the street and I think they were in Rome and he has no shirt on and he's [ __ ] ripped Anthony Bourdain full six-pack yeah dude he was obsessed he would take a private everyday look at him look at that photo that's crazy hey he's like 60 something years old there so he would take a private lesson every day and then he would take a class so we take a private lesson sharpen up techniques and then roll yeah take group classes too which is very very critical we got a role with different people how do percentage and so he was in there like and it became a good thing for him to sort of become addicted to this positive thing yeah I mean for me it wasn't gonna be golf it was gonna be something passive like that right oh I hear it's great but it's been it's just been a great gift and it's also that thing where you know you're just you're never done I'm a black belt five years ago for another grading and now we're doing a lot of weapons stuff and it's just awesome resolutions yeah my tiger window teacher said something to me when I was very young they said that it is a tool for developing your human potential yeah and I never forgot that because I'm like yeah it's because it's really difficult to do like all martial arts or really it's really difficult to get your body to move that way and to be able to be effective in a conflict situation if you can do it you can do it over and over again and you can overcome that difficult thing and you thought it was insurmountable and then you figured out how to do it eventually you get to this point you realized well everything in life is like that everything in life is like something it's a puzzle you have to figure out what how am i approaching it wrong what can I do to make it better how do I get more competent at this particular skill or this particular discipline yeah and just the humility to I mean if I've noticed anything in the last couple of years sitting in UFC which by the way I was doing a Robert Altman film called the gingerbread man back in the 90s and I UFC had just start off and I was getting the VHS tapes yeah and watching them and so when they go back on the 25 years ago I was like I've been I've been I've been there from jump that's awesome but we watch it's just that thing of no matter what you think the the tides are changing quickly and yeah and you just got to keep keep working well that was a real wake-up call for a lot of martial artists was the UFC there's a lot of the stuff that they were doing really wasn't effective yeah they thought it would be if everybody was playing by the rules in the dojo and sort of following along though but once you really saw actual caged event where people were just going balls out you realize a lot of this stuff just doesn't work yeah well I'd love how messy it was at the beginning because the style matchups were so if it was almost crazy laughable until you until you saw the violence and no weight classes if you and I share another passion resto mods yes yes you have was it a 1970 Mustang yeah I got that 302 80 of speed core a couple other ones food court does amazing stuff they're great yeah and when I saw that they were doing your cargo oh this is gonna be good you picked a unique color too yeah I'm pretty sure that's the only holiday that thing yeah that's back east right now that's a good car for for straightaways that's a nice long island car mmm yeah it's beautiful but the beautiful thing about something like speedcore is they're gonna take that car and make it so that it's manageable you can actually drive it if you drove a real 1970 stock car it would be it's horrific yeah and it's amazing how far we've come yeah those cars it's like you're cut you like blindfolded as you're driving you're sort of aware of what what the car is gonna do is you turn the wheel but not really know it's it to me it's like it's like a crop duster without wings every time I start I just need to go Jesus Christ I got kids and also since I threw my hat in the ring with this kind of green technology initiatives I I'm probably gonna wind up auctioning them all off yeah be honest right you know drove a little BMW electric car here I saw I and I started laughing when I saw it I'll hold on to Forks yeah you have to hold on to that what you got to what is this that is a tarantula hawk that Maynard Keenan from tool sent me from his farm in Arizona it's uh we were talking about it on a podcast and he's like if you ever seen one I go No and then a week later one arrived in the mail hold on let me see what this says yeah by the way if I've been too far off mic this whole time now you're fine right okay we're good you could give me a sign Jamie's a master he knows how to handle this I know you have a lot of other [ __ ] to do so I'm gonna I'm gonna let you get out of here I just want to say it's an honor honor to meet you know like a pleasure to sit down talk to you I appreciate you taking your time and best of luck with everything just flew by pal yeah I'll be back trust me okay I hope you do hope you do come back bye everybody oh you know what I wanted to get to there's a guy named brands parent if you've heard of him [Music]

Channel: PowerfulJRE

Views: 10,958,174

Rating: 4.8818688 out of 5

Keywords: Joe Rogan Experience, JRE, Joe, Rogan, podcast, MMA, comedy, stand, up, funny, Freak, Party, JRE #1411, Joe Rogan, Robert Downey Jr, Ironman, Dr. Doolittle

Id: d5XTDmm0KUQ

Length: 72min 20sec (4340 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 15 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/popcrnshower]

Definitely watching this tonight, love hearing from RDJ. Also, side note, after all those amazing marvel movies RDJ is allowed a mulligan (Dolittle).

[u/ADmavericK]

This was a great convo that flowed well, and he and RDJ have great chemistry. Joe talked about many things that us fans of RDJ wanted to ask him. I hope we get to see more of the Avengers go on to have easy going candid conversations like this with Rogan.

That was a treat.

EDIT: He teased that he would return. Don't do us like that RDJ, please come back for reaaal.

EDIT 2: For those of you who are confused about my comment saying he would return, I mean that he said he would return for another JRE episode and not as Tony Stark/Iron Man.

[u/elmacjunkie]

Finally! I had been checking his podcast episodes every day for the past week and a half.

[u/Yojimbo88]

Great, not getting off work for another 6 hours..im so knocking this out as soon as I change into my PJ's.

[u/Ikhouvankaas]

Kinda weird to hear Iron Man curse

[u/TheSweetestKill]

My favorite small bit right at the beginning is when they are referencing Tony Stark's chest arc reactor, and RDJ refers to it as the "RT". I think in the movies they only call it that maybe once, during the final battle in Iron Man 1.

As a comic nerd, the idea that RDJ refers to them as RTs is super cool.

[u/MrWolfsky]

WOOOOOOOOOOO

DOLITTLE HYPE