Robert Downey Sr.

(continued)

Interview by Alyce Wilson

Now, another thing about Greaser's Palace, you had your wife [Elsie Downey] in that and your son [Robert Downey Jr.] in a very small role. In fact, he tells people that his first film appearance was Pound.

It is.

It is outside of the womb, but he wasn't your wife pregnant with him when you did Chafed Elbows?

Yes.

Because she was the only woman in the whole movie. She played every woman.

That's right.

And it was kind of an absurdist kind of juxtaposition that she was always pregnant in it and it doesn't get mentioned at all.

Well, no, she gives birth to her child at the end, and they go on welfare.

Oh, that's right. Well, that was very much almost like a kind of student film kind of experiment.

That's good. I loved doing those films. I did it myself. I loved it. It was fun.

Do you still do still photography?

No. But once in a while I can shoot a camera if I have to.

You've worked with your family quite a bit. First of all, when you were still with Elsie, you had her in a number of films. And of course, your son has been in just tons of films with you. What's the creative relationship between you and your son? How does that work?

Well, it's fun. You know, I was worried about him in Hugo Pool, with the drugs and he looked horrible.

He did. And I wasn't sure how much of it was him and how much of it was the character he was playing. But he was very thin.

No, it wasn't. It was just sad. But I'm so glad he's sober now and very responsible. Now he's got a life. It's great.

I just saw this Inside the Actor's Studio interview that he did recently, and I did want to ask you about this. He said that the first experience that he had with drugs was somebody on one of your films introduced him to it when he was quite young. Did you know about that at the time?

There were drugs everywhere.

As a father, how did you feel about it?

I never thought it was dangerous. You see, marijuana back then was looked at as nothing. The next drugs up weren't even considered dangerous, but they were. If I'd had knowledge, I would have never touched anything.

Thank goodness he came out of it. Did you manage to have any influence on [his recovery]?

Just being supportive. And having gone through it myself, I knew what he — you know. It's not a good thing. It never is.

So you had some troubles [with drugs] back in the day?

Late '60s, early — well, mainly early '70s and through to the mid-'80s. Big waste of time.

What brought you out of it?

I knew I was going to die. I looked in the mirror once, and there was nobody there. I said, "Uh-oh. I could die."

Yes. Did you have the support of family, as well?

No, I just quit. I mean, once I see something as horrible, I can quit anything. I hadn't seen it until I was too far into it. You have to do it yourself.

You have to hit rock bottom.

Yes. There's no further way down than thinking you're dead. Or you're about to be. Most people don't know that when they're caught up in that.

I noticed in your films that the drug references stop in the '80s. I wasn't sure about whether that was a sign of the times or if that was because you yourself had kind of turned your back on that.

Maybe. Maybe both. Everybody I knew who was doing what I was doing was either dead or in jail if they didn't stop.

Looking towards the future, are you looking forward to working with your son again?

I want him to sing some Kurt Weill for us.

Have you got that planned, or is it just an idea at this point?

We've already told him. I'm going to see him in a couple of weeks. We'll show him some performances, see if he'll do it. I think he will, because he loves to sing.

And the acting, too. When you hear [Kurt Weill's] music, it almost begs to be performed. Because it's so dramatic. It's so theatrical. Here's an off the path question. Why are you a prince [in your film credits]?

I said it on the Johnny Carson show when he — was it he or Carl Reiner asked me once. At that time, the joke was I'm too young to be a king and too committed to be a queen. And that got a big laugh. It's just fun to fool around with the credits. [That started in] Chafed Elbows. Or Babo '73. I'm not sure.

Babo '73 was one of the films I couldn't track down anywhere.

Yes, that's a political film. That's one of my favorites. That's the one that got me a grant and got me started. Most critics walked out of it, saying, "This is offensive," because it portrayed the president of the United States as a guy who couldn't make up his mind about anything. Nothing. And he had a left and a right-wing adviser who kept switching positions on him every five minutes. It was funny. And one critic at The New Yorker said it was his favorite film of the year, and it was packed. It was only an hour. Down on Bleeker Street. It ran for about five bucks. And then he called me up, this critic, and said, "Do you want a Guggenheim grant?" And I said, "Yes. Do I have a chance?" And he, "Yes, I'm on the selection committee."

Maybe you could put [Babo '73] in as an extra with one of your longer features or something.

Well, I'm actually working on an update of Putney Swope now that is about politics, trying to find a candidate.

Now is that also with a racial dimension or is it from another perspective?

Yes, but in a different way. More dimensional. But it's about trying to find a candidate.

A candidate who will suit everybody?

No, just anybody that's decent. Try and find one. There is nobody. Dave Chappelle has the best line of all. You've heard it?

Tell me. I might recognize it. I love Dave Chappelle.

Well, he's being considered. He said that if Hillary Clinton runs for president against Condoleezza Rice, Ralph Nader will win. I thought that was great. Sad state of affairs now. So we're going to try and deal with that sad state of affairs and see what can happen. I didn't want to do a remake, but this was worth it.