Nov 11, 2005 4:43 pm US/Pacific
Robert Downey Jr. Gets A 'Kiss'
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Since making his film debut more than 20 years ago, Robert Downey Jr. has consistently been called one of the finest actors of his generation. Now he's one of the busiest.
He has seven films being released next year, with two others already in theaters. One of them is the comic crime tale "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang," in which he teams up with Val Kilmer.
"It's the kind of movie I'd like to go see and that my friends will always tell me, 'Go see this because it's kind of wild and different,' " Downey tells The Early Show co-anchor Rene Syler."
Wild and different is also the part he plays: protagonist/narrator Harry Lockhart, a bumbling, stumbling thief who, in an effort to evade arrest, "stumbles into an audition for a private investigator-type movie. And he does well because he's under duress because his partner has been shot," Downey says.
In the film's production notes, producer Joel Silver says: "We needed an actor who could convey the character's blend of optimism, recklessness, misguided persistence and likeability. In addition to his obvious talents as an actor, Robert Downey Jr. exudes a boyish charm and an appeal that is perfect for Harry."
The plot, however, doesn't fit into a nice and neat description. "It's like when my buddies and I, and circle of friends saw 'Pulp Fiction,' " Downey says. "You couldn't explain the plot. It was, 'You got to go see this because it's a great, fun film.' "
Teaming up with Val Kilmer seems like the obvious choice for a buddy movie, but Downey says: "We're both kind of eccentric and reputations, warranted or unwarranted, aside we care a lot about what we do. And we're both pretty seasoned."
Also special for Downey is that "Susan Downey produced this movie," he says stressing the fact his wife dropped Levine to become Downey.
Downey is currently in theaters in "Good Night and Good Luck," directed by George Clooney. Downey plays Joe Wershabe, a reporter on the controversial Edward R. Murrow CBS team that battles Sen. Joe McCarthy.
Along with "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," Downey has finished production on two other films this year including Richard Linklater's futuristic drama "A Scanner Darkly." The film co-stars Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Woody Harrelson living in an America that has lost the war on drugs. The second film is "Shaggy Dog," where a man tries to live a normal life despite the fact that he sometimes turns into a sheepdog.
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