The Russo Brothers already know who should get the 92nd Academy Award for Best Actor - he's our Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr.!
RDJ is arguably one of the finest actors of our generation. His movies, so far, have made over $13.5 billion at the worldwide box office. Strangely enough, he has never won a single Oscar. He did receive a couple of nominations, but it's not hyperbole to say that he deserves more than that.
Especially after his strong performance in Avengers: Endgame, it's high time the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences showed some real love to the Iron Man actor. That's what the directors of the April 26 release, Anthony and Joe Russo, believe. In a new interview with The Washington Post, Joe said:
His [RDJ's] cumulative body of work from these movies is staggering. If you look at the work over just even the last four [Marvel] films he's done, it's phenomenal. ."‰."‰. He deserves an Oscar perhaps more than anyone in the last 40 years because of the way that he has motivated popular culture.
Joe concluded by saying that with some of his emotional scenes in Endgame, RDJ has the world in tears right now. Meanwhile, Anthony called attention to the 54-year-old actor's exemplary work ethic. According to the co-director:
He has a very involved process "” a more involved process than any actor we've ever worked with. He digs deeper, and he works harder than anybody. ."‰."‰. Downey really just goes the extra mile for everything "” it's like everything he's doing is something to his core.
Even though they believe that that RDJ is deserving of an Oscar, the Russo Brothers can't be very confident that the Academy will take his Endgame performance into consideration. Joe explained:
I go back and look at past Oscar winners like "˜Ben-Hur,' "˜West Side Story,' "˜Lawrence of Arabia,' "˜My Fair Lady,' "˜The Sound of Music,' "˜The Godfather,' "˜Godfather 2,' "˜The Sting,' "˜Rocky' "” we're talking about some of the most popular films ever made. It feels like there's now a prejudice against popular cinema. In a way, that's somewhat sad.
It's not just the Russos who are pressing the Academy to recognize Robert Downey Jr.'s performance in 22nd Marvel Cinematic Universe entry. Many of the fans are urging the same. Check out the following tweets, for instance!
It remains to be seen whether RDJ walks away with the 13.5 inch tall, 8.5-pound weighing statuette in the end. But even if he doesn't, he still has millions of fans around the globe that love him 3000.