Starring as a hotshot lawyer in "The Judge" gives a fresh new look at Robert Downey, Jr., not just because he played the sarcastically funny characters of Tony Stark/Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes in the past five years that audiences have come to associate him to those roles, or that he appeared in comedies such as "Due Date" and "Chef", but rather because this time he gets down and dirty with a serious role.
In "The Judge", Downey plays Henry "Hank" Palmer, a skilled and successful lawyer, who returns home to Carlinville, Indiana for his mother's funeral only to find out that his estranged father, Judge Joseph "Joe" Palmer (Robert Duvall), is suspected of committing murder. Hank now has to defend his father in court against prosecutor Dwight DIckham (Billy Bob Thornton), who is determined to prove Joe's guilt and see him locked up.
Downey understands that he is heading into the "sunset" years of his career, now that he is 49 and with an already impressive number of films to his credit since 1970.
"It definitely will be an interesting period for me because I'm coming up on the back nine," said Downey, metaphorizing golf, in a QMI Agency interview (via Forterie Times).
"The sun is setting on those opportunities," added Downey with a little sadness as he discusses his rewarding roles in the "Iron Man" and "Avengers" franchises. "But there is new stuff on the horizon. I really don't know where things are going, but it just kind of feels good."
That "new stuff" includes "The Judge", which is the first project of Downey and his wife Susan with their own film and television production company, Team Downey.
Life also somehow imitates art, reflecting Downey's life with that of Hank's in "The Judge, according to a report by the Associated Press (via ABC News). Downey's mother, Elsie Ann Ford, passed away recently on September 22. He gave her a Facebook tribute on September 27, recalling how her mother inspired him to get sober and stay that way.
In the film, Downey is also father to a plucky daughter. In real life, he and Susan are expecting their second child, a daughter, on November, confirming it via his Twitter page last July.
"The closer you get to having a kid," Downey said about the arrival of her very first daughter, "the less daunting it becomes because you're just like, 'OK. I can't take the suspense anymore. I've got to see her. And a lot of it is just what's been going on for eons, which is you see something that is completely helpless without you, and you show up."
"The Judge" is directed by David Dobkin. It was shown at the opening night of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on September 4, 2014, and premiered at the Beverly Hills' Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles on October 1. It will have its wide release in the United States on October 10.
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