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The Joe Rogan ExperienceThe Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1411 - Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr. is an American actor, producer, and singer. He stars in the new movie "Dolittle" which releases in theater on January 17, 2020.

Joe RoganhostRobert Downey Jr.guest
Jan 15, 20201h 12mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:02 – 1:01

    Aging eyesight, glasses clutter, and choosing what to “hold onto”

    1. JR

      (sighs) Boom. So we were talking about losing eyesight.

    2. RJ

      Yes.

    3. JR

      And you, you actually take comfort in the fact that your eyesight is starting to dwindle?

    4. RJ

      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 one 2.5s.

    5. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    6. RJ

      Then it's one 5s. Then it's-

    7. JR

      What do you got now?

    8. RJ

      Uh, I stopped because I have so many fucking glasses. Some of them are ones. Some of them are 2.5s.

    9. JR

      (laughs)

    10. RJ

      It's like, it's like a... You know what I mean?

    11. JR

      Yeah, I do know what you mean.

    12. RJ

      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, uh, Israeli guy who's got this app, probably from Laird, got this app and you do it and you get your eyesight back. And sometimes it's about, I don't need to try to use something to hold onto everything. I wanna pick the five or seven things that I definitely want to hold onto, and I want to watch the rest of it go in and out with the tides.

  2. 1:01 – 3:21

    Can eyesight be restored? LASIK limits and future biotech hopes

    1. JR

      I, I, I agree with that in some ways, but if there was a real thing where you could get your eyesight back-

    2. RJ

      Yeah.

    3. JR

      ... I would definitely be on that.

    4. RJ

      Well-

    5. JR

      I don't think there is a real thing.

    6. RJ

      ... LASIK? I, you, there's-

    7. JR

      That's not real.

    8. RJ

      Okay.

    9. JR

      The problem, well, LASIK, the, the-

    10. RJ

      But I know people that do-

    11. JR

      There's, there's several problems. You can get it if you have problems with your vision.

    12. RJ

      Yeah.

    13. JR

      But we have macular degeneration. That's coming from age. Age-related macular degeneration, LASIK doesn't really fix that.

    14. RJ

      But I know people who were wearing glasses and then got LASIK and they don't wear glasses anymore.

    15. JR

      Yes, that's, that's fact. But also, sometimes-

    16. RJ

      But we never wore glasses.

    17. JR

      ... they get one eye to close up and one eye for distance.

    18. RJ

      It, it's even more fun.

    19. JR

      Yeah.

    20. RJ

      Half the eye exams I've gotten-

    21. JR

      (laughs)

    22. RJ

      ... wind up fucking me. Two weeks later, you're like, "These don't work."

    23. JR

      Yeah.

    24. RJ

      What about the loss of a, uh, a sense that you're accustomed to being fine annoys you?

    25. JR

      Hmm. What about it?

    26. RJ

      Yeah.

    27. JR

      I, I like being able to see things. Uh, read labels in particular. Like, how many of these fuckers am I supposed to take?

    28. RJ

      (laughs)

    29. JR

      You know, and what's in here?

    30. RJ

      Yes.

  3. 3:21 – 4:06

    The “arc reactor” necklace and destiny jokes about being Iron Man

    1. JR

      Yeah, I'm sure, too. I'm, I'm concerned about that. Do you, that thing that you're wearing around your neck-

    2. RJ

      Yes.

    3. JR

      ... being as you are o- obviously known as being Iron Man-

    4. RJ

      Yeah.

    5. JR

      ... are you concerned with wearing a large thing in the exact same spot-

    6. RJ

      (laughs) Always (laughs) .

    7. JR

      ... as the... Did you ever think of that?

    8. RJ

      Uh, life is funny 'cause I was doing this before I ever got fitted for the RT, so it was more of, uh, art imitating oddball stuff I was doing anyway.

    9. JR

      Oh, really?

    10. RJ

      Yeah.

    11. JR

      Oh. Well-

    12. RJ

      You know-

    13. JR

      ... but Iron Man obvi- this is even more interesting because maybe you were born to be Iron Man because Iron Man obviously had that from the comic books.

    14. RJ

      Loosely pre-arranged destiny.

    15. JR

      Mm.

    16. RJ

      And what's incredible is how far a field you can go from it and still find your way back.

  4. 4:06 – 5:51

    Owning the role: reboots, Stan Lee’s intent, and Tony Stark’s darker themes

    1. JR

      Yeah. Well, there's been a, 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 fucking Spider-Mans have there been? How many Hulks have there been?

    2. RJ

      Yep.

    3. JR

      There's only one Iron Man, though. You got that.

    4. RJ

      Thus far. What years it?

    5. JR

      Thus far. Get the fuck outta here.

    6. RJ

      (laughs)

    7. JR

      You're Iron Man, man.

    8. RJ

      Okay.

    9. JR

      It's just like, there's cer- certain dudes just own a role and if anybody else tried to be Iron Man, we'd be like, "Nah."

    10. RJ

      Well, interestingly enough, uh, East Coaster, uh, a dad of, of, uh, some renown, very different. My dad was a, kind of a underground filmmaker, uh, auteur maverick. I grew up definitely being Bob Downey Sr.'s kid. Um, spent time on Long Island, which is, I think, where Tony was raised.

    11. JR

      Yeah.

    12. RJ

      But when, when Stan Lee 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, um, and then, of course, there was the whole demon in the bottle. I think he was the first superhero who ever, like, had the, you know, almost, like, the-

    13. JR

      Yeah.

    14. RJ

      ... hang up his jersey 'cause he was hammered.

    15. JR

      Mm-hmm. Yeah.

    16. RJ

      So, I mean, yeah, there was obviously... But a- again, once something goes your way, you can draw all the parallels you want and you can call it destiny. But it was, it was something that I def- I definitely felt drawn to and I definitely fought for. And looking back on it, I go, (laughs) "Why was I fighting for that?" Uh, because it turned out to be a, a pretty special thing.

  5. 5:51 – 9:10

    Why Downey chose Doctor Dolittle: reinvention, creative synergy, and a rescue farm life

    1. JR

      Well, it was an amazing thing. I mean, you embodied it in c- in a very strange way. I mean, it's inexorable at this point, y- you know? Which is why I thought it was cool that you're gonna do Dr. Dolittle because I, I love the fact... Like, I'm a fan of your work. You've done a lot of great stuff.

    2. RJ

      Likewise.

    3. JR

      And you-You doing Doctor Dolittle is, like, a cool... It's... I don't wanna say you're not taking yourself seriously, but you're, you're taking a risk.

    4. RJ

      Trust that I'm not.

    5. JR

      (laughs)

    6. NA

      (laughs)

    7. JR

      But you're taking... I mean, this is a fun kids movie-

    8. NA

      Yeah.

    9. JR

      ... about a guy who talks to animals.

    10. RJ

      Yeah.

    11. JR

      You know? I mean, that's a great break. For... Because, like, if you're Iron Man... Like, there's certain people that for whatever reason become a role and that is it. That's what we will accept. You are that guy. And you're not doing that. You're, you're, 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.

    12. RJ

      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, uh, MMA and society and politics, things are moving and, and morphing and the information age is making things so... Everything's learning and growing from everything so quickly and then i- improving or disproving or, or, uh, 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, um, said, uh, "Steve Geoghegan." I was like, "I know a Steve Geoghegan, Syriana. Really? What did he do? He wrote... Wow, I... Like, that's a big turn for him."

    13. JR

      Yeah.

    14. RJ

      And then I said, "But why, why do I wanna..." And I looked out and we live on a, on a, on a rescue farm. We have-

    15. JR

      Really?

    16. RJ

      ... alpacas and goats and kunekune pigs and, uh, you know, it, it's just crazy and I was like, okay. Same way I did with Iron Man 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 wanted to think of... I don't wanna just do another English accent. So, there's this guy, William Price, who's a nutty Welsh doctor. He was a Neo-Druidist. He 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 with stars on it and, like, a staff in his hand. I sent that to Geoghegan and he goes, "That looks right to me." I was like-

    17. JR

      (laughs)

    18. RJ

      ... "Great, let's do this movie." (laughs)

    19. JR

      (laughs) And literally that's it.

    20. RJ

      It's always it. You know what I 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. Hey, will you give me some of this?" And they 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 just kinda happens.

    21. JR

      There's the gentleman right there. That's a crazy look.

    22. RJ

      Yeah. To me, I just thought that's... Can Dolittle be like that? He goes, "Does he 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 un-handsome or, uh, w- less, less weird for the kids for the rest of the movie. But let's find him like that."

  6. 9:10 – 11:24

    Synchronicity, intuition, and “getting out of your own way”

    1. JR

      This, th- this concept of things just sort of falling into place. I'm, I'm a big believer in that too.

    2. RJ

      Yeah.

    3. JR

      What, what is that though? Is that you getting out of your own way? Like, what, what is that? Is it-

    4. RJ

      Isn't that 70% of it?

    5. JR

      Yeah.

    6. RJ

      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, uh, invisible thread, but you can feel the tug and you just kinda... You have to be really gentle and you have to pause when agitated and you have to go for it when... Y- you're gonna, like... There's four walls in here. Which one has the map behind it? You go, "It's that one." And you knock down the wall and it's there, you know?

    7. JR

      Yeah. What is that though? That's a-

    8. RJ

      Synchronicity.

    9. JR

      Yeah.

    10. RJ

      Uh, intuition.

    11. JR

      But labeling it is very dangerous because it's so filled with woo.

    12. RJ

      Yeah.

    13. JR

      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-

    14. RJ

      Sure.

    15. JR

      ... defining it or teaching you how to get to it.

    16. RJ

      It's great 'cause it's the commodity that you can't capitalize on.

    17. JR

      Yeah.

    18. RJ

      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.

    19. JR

      Right.

    20. RJ

      It's the big I don't know. That's what makes it great.

    21. JR

      But when it happens, whether it happens with love or with friendship or with a career or with a path you're taking, you just know while... There's a smile. There's an inner smile, like, yeah, this is it.

    22. RJ

      Well put.

    23. JR

      I found it.

    24. RJ

      Yeah.

    25. JR

      This is it. This is... I'm supposed to be doing this.

    26. RJ

      Yeah.

    27. JR

      Here we go, here we go.

    28. RJ

      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 and 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 I've been on. And, uh, and how do I want to start? And it came up, how would you like... I go, "Yes, that's exactly what I wanna do." I wanna go have the Joe Rogan experience and, and kick off this year and this season and this new chapter by doing what I love, which is a- an interview is we're looking at each other and it... There's a give and take.

  7. 11:24 – 15:42

    Will Iron Man return? Rogan’s time-machine pitch vs. Downey’s closure

    1. JR

      Is the door to Iron Man totally closed? 'Cause I don't believe it is.

    2. RJ

      Oh.

    3. JR

      You guys can go through time now. You can go...

    4. RJ

      (laughs)

    5. JR

      There's... There was... You know.

    6. RJ

      I know.

    7. JR

      You already opened up that door.

    8. RJ

      Well, 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, crap."

    9. JR

      No. No.

    10. RJ

      Oh.

    11. JR

      Here's, here's what I think.

    12. RJ

      All right.

    13. JR

      They go through a few semi-lackluster Avengers movies without you.

    14. RJ

      (laughs)

    15. JR

      You ready for this?

    16. RJ

      I'm ready.

    17. JR

      Here's the scene. There's a moment where the world's fate is at stake and they realize they need a super genius, and then they figure out how to restart that time machine.

    18. RJ

      Great.

    19. JR

      Come on, man.

    20. RJ

      Is that you-

    21. JR

      The audience sees you when you, when you step out of that thing.

    22. RJ

      Is this your... And can we... You want a little arc on it too?

    23. JR

      People-

    24. RJ

      'Cause if this is your idea, then you gotta show up for it too.

    25. JR

      I'll do it. I'll show up.

    26. RJ

      Okay.

    27. JR

      What do I have to do?

    28. RJ

      I don't know.

    29. JR

      I'll do whatever I have to do.

    30. RJ

      W- we all have to do whatever Kevin Feige says.

  8. 15:42 – 22:36

    Politics as mental real estate: think globally, act locally

    1. JR

      Of course. You know, what you're talking about, about Nixon and people get... People can lose themselves in current events. And what I mean, and what I mean by that, like, it doesn't necessarily completely... Your, your life is more than what's going on in Washington. You know, Hunter Thompson talked about that when he was running for sheriff in, uh, Aspen. He was talking about how, like, local politics, like your neighborhood, that's real.

    2. RJ

      Yeah.

    3. JR

      Th- 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. But for some people, it becomes, uh, an enormous portion of the real estate of their mind. It, it, it takes over most of their day-to-day consciousness-

    4. RJ

      Yeah.

    5. JR

      ... 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, your life revolves on something that you have very little power over.

    6. RJ

      Teams, turf wars.

    7. JR

      Yeah.

    8. RJ

      Interests.

    9. JR

      Yeah.

    10. RJ

      Uh, think globally, act locally, right?

    11. JR

      Yes. I mean, it's a beautiful statement. It really is. It's one of those clichés-

    12. RJ

      Yeah.

    13. JR

      ... that you don't even think about, but then-

    14. RJ

      I didn't know that was Hunter in that picture up there.

    15. JR

      Yeah.

    16. RJ

      It, to me, he looked like Joe Walsh. (laughs)

    17. JR

      Could have easily been Joe Walsh.

    18. RJ

      Yeah.

    19. JR

      I mean, he moved to Colorado too.

    20. RJ

      Oh, wow.

    21. JR

      Yeah, the Rocky Mountain way.

    22. RJ

      Oh, damn if he didn't.

    23. JR

      Yeah.

    24. RJ

      He once told me, and I'll speak out as Quilley said, "Monty, you should just watch TV for a year, bro." (laughs)

    25. JR

      (laughs) I was like, "Thanks, Joe." (laughs)

    26. RJ

      (laughs) And by the way-

    27. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    28. RJ

      ... he's probably right.

    29. JR

      Probably right.

    30. RJ

      (laughs)

  9. 22:36 – 27:39

    Confidence, impermanence, and acting fundamentals learned from Warren Beatty

    1. RJ

      (inhales) Yeah. Uh, well, fortunately I don't have to-

    2. JR

      Yeah.

    3. RJ

      ... find out, right? It's, it's just interesting too, you know, life is doing something and, uh, and, you know, I'm at, at this place. It's also... It, it baffles me, confidence. What is, what does it really mean? There was a, a period of time where I felt like I did a, I did the first Iron Man and then I went and did Tropic Thunder, and then I was doing the first Sherlock, and then I had my shirt off and I was doing martial arts. 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, um, and then people are like, "Are you really as confident as you seem?" And I was like, "I guess right now I am, yeah."

    4. JR

      (laughs)

    5. RJ

      And then, and I think this goes... I mean, this reminds me, we were just talking about the, uh, um, McGregor, uh, Cowboy fight coming up, you know? It's like, it's-

    6. JR

      You gonna go to that?

    7. RJ

      I'm gonna watch it. How can you not watch it, you know? Two brilliant, uh, souls who cannot lose. Neither one of them can afford to lose this fight. Wow, that is a match up.

    8. JR

      Yeah. Particularly, Cowboy doesn't wanna lose, 'cause-

    9. RJ

      Heck no.

    10. JR

      But there's this guy who's the, the, the poster child, the guy who's the, the, the one, right? The chosen one.

    11. RJ

      Yeah.

    12. JR

      That's Conor. And then there's Cowboy who's like, "I think I can fuck that guy up."

    13. RJ

      The journeyman.

    14. JR

      Yeah.

    15. RJ

      Yeah. So, confidence, you know, there's been times when I've felt I'm in possession of it and then you wanna let go a little bit, because it's only ever the moment and life guiding you. The wind is so at your back that you're like, "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 fucking wind does, and it changes. And if you're left there thinking what, you know... So I, 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 onto it so hard, because i- it's great but it is a bit of an illusion 'cause like everything else, it's always changing. And every day, the reset button, the space bar gets pressed and it's like, "Now what?"

    16. JR

      Yeah. The reset button.

    17. RJ

      (laughs)

    18. JR

      Yeah. The, that, the, you, you kinda have to have a confidence to jump into some of the roles that you've taken, though. But I, I see what you're saying, like, that you don't wanna hold onto it.

    19. RJ

      Because it could come and go. I remember, uh, Warren Beatty, who I learned so many amazing things from, uh, I was doing a movie called The Pick-Up Artist with Molly Ringwald.

    20. JR

      I remember that movie.

    21. RJ

      Okay. And he was kinda the de facto producer of it, uncredited, and, uh, he taught me a lot about just acting and, and what it was and he said, uh, he said, "What's your, what's your action in this scene?" And I was like, "Oh no, he's asking me some..." I was like, "Uh, my, my action? Uh, uh, I'm picking up girls." He goes, "What's your action in this scene?" And I was like, "Uh, uh, I'm driving a car." And he asked me, like... You know that thing sometimes when someone asks you a question and just, you, you get caught flat-footed? And he goes, "No, 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, to get to work." And I was like, "Oh yeah, he's right." And he said, "Always know what your action is because then when you come in in the morning confident or when you come in in the morning and you can't hit your ass with both hands, you know what to do."

    22. JR

      Hm.

    23. RJ

      So it... To me, one of the great lessons I learned from him was, oh yeah, just boil down what it is you're doing. Whether there's a camera around or just, "What am I doing today? Today I'm, I'm showing up and, and trying to be, uh, honest and, and also to, to listen and learn. Um, but really my action today is I'm, I'm... today is I'm beginning a process of promotion."

    24. JR

      Warren Beatty's another guy who learned how to put his guns down.

    25. RJ

      Yeah.

    26. JR

      Yeah. It's like a, a thing... I remember watching that Madonna movie. Remember when he was dating Madonna?

    27. RJ

      Uh, Truth or Dare.

    28. JR

      Yeah.

    29. RJ

      So awesome.

    30. JR

      And, uh, he's hanging around with her.

  10. 27:39 – 35:14

    Tropic Thunder in today’s climate: satire, backlash, and moral psychology

    1. JR

      Clearly. Do you think that you could do Tropic Thunder today? Would that be possible?

    2. RJ

      Oh, you could do it.

    3. JR

      (laughs)

    4. RJ

      (laughs) 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, uh, anyone who hasn't seen, to see, about a Black guy who takes over an ad agency in the '60s 'cause everyone votes for him, uh, when the, uh, 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 an essentially corrupt endeavor. And then he realizes and confronts his own corruption. But, um, 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, 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 had passed on it or something like that. (laughs)

    5. JR

      (laughs)

    6. RJ

      Possibly wisely. And, uh, I thought, "Yeah, I'll do that, and I'll do that after Iron Man." And then I started thinking, "This is a terrible idea."

    7. JR

      (laughs)

    8. RJ

      (laughs) "Wait a, 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 in my mind.

    9. JR

      (laughs)

    10. RJ

      So there's something in it for me.

    11. JR

      (laughs) (clapping)

    12. RJ

      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 s- 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 lifetime.

    13. JR

      I love it.

    14. RJ

      He writes, he directs, he acts, he... If you had seen him when he was directing this movie, you would've 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.

    15. JR

      (laughs)

    16. RJ

      And 90% of my Black friends are like, "Dude, that was great." (laughs)

    17. JR

      (laughs) What about the other 10%?

    18. RJ

      Um, you know-

    19. JR

      (laughs)

    20. RJ

      ... I, I can't disagree with them but I know where my heart was.

    21. JR

      Yeah.

    22. RJ

      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.

    23. JR

      Yeah.

    24. RJ

      And I was like, "I love that."

    25. JR

      Yeah.

    26. RJ

      I was like, "That was great."

    27. JR

      Yeah.

    28. RJ

      So, you know.

    29. JR

      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 'cause he did brownface.

    30. RJ

      Yes.

  11. 35:14 – 39:28

    Memorizing lines, earwigs, and improvisation inside big productions

    1. JR

      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?"

    2. RJ

      (laughs)

    3. JR

      And how much does that get in the way?

    4. RJ

      There's, I, look, I have a very broad band of, uh, 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 or stepping on my lines or, or, or whatever, or wanna change their lines and my lines. And it's always a different, uh, thing. It's like reading the room. It's like, you know, if I was a fighter and you go into the octagon and they, they go, "Are you ready? Are you ready?" And you go... (breathes heavily) And then you just-

    5. JR

      Do it.

    6. RJ

      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, uh, archery setup over there, but far enough away to where I can see it but kinda 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. Um, 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, uh, unless it's some monologue that y- you want to really be committed to that's not going to shift." I would just go like that.

    7. JR

      So, you'd put one of those little earpieces in, they would feed you the lines?

    8. RJ

      Yeah.

    9. JR

      Yeah.

    10. RJ

      And now, I've kind of gone as far as you can go with that and I'll probably go back to, uh, a new method or a new version of the old method.

    11. JR

      So, it's basically improvisational. Like, you, in, in the moment, like, you, you decide with whatever preparation you're gonna do for each role how you're 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.

    12. RJ

      Yes. It depends on the script, too. Like, Tropic Thunder, Justin Theroux wrote that script with, uh, with Ben. It was a (laughs) really good script. I mean, my missus, who, uh, next to my mother w- you know, w- pr- probably more so, is, uh, the opinion I was really waiting on. And she was reading in the kitchen, laughing her ass off. She goes, "This is so wrong."

    13. JR

      (laughs)

    14. NA

      (laughs)

    15. RJ

      "This is so wrong." And she goes, "And it's so true."

    16. JR

      Oh.

    17. RJ

      "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, then it's gonna be good." And so, like for instance, the, uh, you know, never go-

    18. JR

      Yeah.

    19. RJ

      ... uh, full blah, blah, blah.

    20. JR

      You don't even wanna say it.

    21. NA

      (laughs)

    22. JR

      (laughs)

    23. RJ

      No. By the way, I guarantee you, I'm getting outta 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.

    24. JR

      His stock went up the next day.

    25. RJ

      All right.

    26. JR

      Dropped six, went up nine.

    27. RJ

      With who? (laughs)

    28. JR

      I don't know. I don't understand it.

    29. RJ

      I love that you now have it and now it's a piece of art.

    30. JR

      Yeah.

  12. 39:28 – 1:01:38

    On-set relationships, personality management, and the CGI reality of Marvel

    1. JR

      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-

    2. RJ

      Yeah.

    3. JR

      ... and, and not being prepared. I got out of acting for that very rea- uh, just, that was the thing that I... I went from a world of standup comedy, which are just a bunch of crazy people-

    4. RJ

      Yeah.

    5. JR

      ... to actors, which are a bunch of crazy people, but in a different way.

    6. RJ

      Yup.

    7. JR

      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.

    8. RJ

      Well, yeah, sure it can, and it's like a thumbprint. Every time you're on a, a new project, it's a completely different, you know, fingerprint. You ne- you never know what you're gonna get. And sometimes projects seem blessed and sometimes you could say they're cursed, but again, my, uh, 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, in principle, no matter what happens, you can fix it. "Oh, we lost the light. Oh, the thunder. The weather came in. Okay, he got sick. Oh, she's, oh, she's pregnant. Okay, great. Uh, let's change the costume." You can't overcome personalities.

    9. JR

      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 wanna meet Captain America and find out what the fuck (laughs) that guy's really like?"

    10. RJ

      Well... (laughs)

    11. JR

      (laughs) Did... (laughs) Like-

    12. RJ

      By the way.

    13. JR

      ... do you ever-

    14. NA

      (laughs)

    15. JR

      (laughs)

    16. RJ

      Um-

    17. JR

      You know, f- for the longest time, superhero movies were bullshit. You know, the TV shows were kind of clunky, they were, they were campy, you know? It was Batman with the silly pants on and Robin and...

    18. RJ

      I bought it. (laughs)

    19. JR

      Everything was bang, boom-

    20. RJ

      Yes. (laughs)

    21. JR

      ... bang. Remember you'd see the big boom in front of the screen?

    22. RJ

      Absolutely. And yet, who was in the first Superman? Brandon.

    23. JR

      Yes, right. Yeah.

    24. RJ

      So there was always a seed of an attempt to legitimize something that was otherwise two-dimensional.

    25. JR

      Yeah, Superman was probably the first film that really did that, right? And then-

    26. RJ

      Mm-hmm.

    27. JR

      ... Batman.

    28. RJ

      Yeah.

    29. JR

      And then the Batman series. But again, how many goddamn Batmans have there been?

    30. RJ

      Right. I'm, I, I wanna see what Pattinson does.

  13. 1:01:38 – 1:09:41

    Wing Chun, recovery, and martial arts as a life operating system

    1. RJ

      ... you know, how do you get it all? And, uh, honestly, particularly in the last 15 years-

    2. JR

      Yeah.

    3. RJ

      ... 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.

    4. JR

      Mm.

    5. RJ

      You know? Guard your center, uh, keep your eye on the lead elbow, um, get to the blind side, you know.

    6. JR

      How often do you do that?

    7. RJ

      Uh, I started... (sighs) I think I'm in the 15th or 16th year. Uh, 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 to location, we'll have long stretches where we're doing it every day and there's gradings, so you gotta prep for those, you know.

    8. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    9. RJ

      It's, uh...

    10. JR

      So what are you... Are you doing, doing Kung Fu? Like is it a very par- particular style?

    11. RJ

      I do a style, traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu.

    12. JR

      Really?

    13. RJ

      Yeah, which is, um-

    14. JR

      Very underrated art form.

    15. RJ

      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, in a lot of the, the Eastern stuff, there was, uh, turf wars and we're not really going to show them-

    16. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    17. RJ

      ... our footwork, we're not going to do this. So... But anyway, it's been a real deep dive with my Sifu, Eric Oram, whose Sifu, my Sigung, is 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.

    18. JR

      You know, uh, the... It's you very rarely see that in the UFC, but one of the best fighters in the UFC uses it regularly, Tony, uh, Tony Ferguson. Tony Ferguson uses trapping hands.

    19. RJ

      The Mook Jong.

    20. JR

      Yeah.

    21. RJ

      Yeah.

    22. JR

      He, 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 wo- wooden dummy.

    23. RJ

      Yeah. I got my ass kicked by a wooden dummy for about three years, and then I finally understood the principle of, uh, don't fight force with force and, uh, you know, it's, it's just nuts. So anyway, half the time if I would be in a, a critical artistic situation, I would just say, um... 'Cause 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... 'Cause 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, uh...

    24. JR

      Why aren't you wearing a mouthpiece?

    25. RJ

      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, as we can to what the, the real, uh, experience would be. But again, it's like everything, I'm sure, uh, 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.

    26. JR

      Yeah, for sure.

    27. RJ

      So...

    28. JR

      Not just a few clicks. While I was coming up...

    29. RJ

      That's what... That's what I would imagine.

    30. JR

      Yeah. Oh, there's... Yeah.

  14. 1:09:41 – 1:12:19

    Resto-mod cars, green tech pivot, and a quick studio tour moment

    1. JR

      You and I share another passion.

    2. RJ

      Uh-huh.

    3. JR

      Resto mods.

    4. RJ

      Yes.

    5. JR

      Yes. Uh, you have a... Was it a, a 1970 Mustang?

    6. RJ

      Yeah, I got the 30280. It was Speedkor. A couple other ones, um-

    7. JR

      Speedkor does amazing stuff.

    8. RJ

      They're great.

    9. JR

      Yeah. And when I saw that they were doing your car, I go, "Oh, this is gonna be good."

    10. RJ

      Yeah.

    11. JR

      You picked a unique color too.

    12. RJ

      Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's the only-

    13. JR

      There it is.

    14. RJ

      Oh, hello darling.

    15. JR

      Look at that thing. God.

    16. RJ

      Yeah, that's back east right now. That's a good car for, uh, for straightaways. That's a nice Long Island car.

    17. JR

      Mm. (laughs)

    18. RJ

      Yeah.

    19. JR

      Yeah.

    20. RJ

      Yeah.

    21. JR

      It's beautiful. But the beautiful thing about something like Speedkor is they're gonna take that car and make it so that it's manageable. You can actually drive it. If you drove a, a real 1970s stock car-

    22. RJ

      Oh, my God.

    23. JR

      ... it would be... It's horrific.

    24. RJ

      Yeah.

    25. JR

      And it's amazing how far we've come.

    26. RJ

      Yeah.

    27. JR

      Those cars, it's like you're c- you're like blindfolded as you're driving. You're sort of aware of what, what the car's gonna do as you turn the wheel, but not really.

    28. RJ

      No. It's... It... To me, it's like, it's like a crop duster without wings.

    29. JR

      (laughs)

    30. RJ

      Every time I start, I just... (imitates engine revving) You go, "Jesus Christ, man. I got, I got kids."

Episode duration: 1:12:19

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