Downey Jr. Intimidated By Pitt In Ritchie Role
By WENNWednesday, December 16, 2009
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. was terrified about stepping into SHERLOCK HOLMES’ shoes for GUY RITCHIE’s new movie - because he was convinced he could never top BRAD PITT’s performance in the director’s SNATCH film.
The Iron Man actor steps back into Victorian London to play the supersleuth in Ritchie’s new adaptation, but he had doubts over whether he was “cool” enough to be one of the filmmaker’s leading men.
He explains, “It’s was a little bit daunting. You know the type of guys that have been in Ritchie’s movies and you feel like they’re this kind of tight-knit little band. And I remember seeing Brad Pitt in Snatch, and thinking that was so cool and it was so bad a**. And I thought, ‘I’m never gonna measure up.’”
But Downey Jr. insists Ritchie didn’t question his casting decision and instead focused on getting the job done.
He adds, “The truth is, Guy doesn’t think that way. He kind of approaches everything like (it’s important to) have a good atmosphere on set. (He says,) ‘What we have is this huge iconic literary character and we’re looking at storyboards for fight sequences that seem to have no end, and 75 days to do it and this is how we’re going to do it.’”
