In Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. Turned the Mirror on Himself

Robert Downey Jr. first heard about the film Oppenheimer—an exploration of the creation of the atomic bomb, which broke box-office records when it premiered in July—straight from the mouth of its director, Christopher Nolan. “He says, ‘Come over to my house and read this script,’” Downey Jr. tells W magazine's editor at large, Lynn Hirschberg. “And I jumped at the chance.” The decision to do so was a boon. Now the beloved star is nominated for a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award for best supporting actor for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss, chief commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission, who urged along the hydrogen bomb’s development—and became Robert Oppenheimer’s nemesis. It was a welcome change (and a bit of a challenge) for the 58-year-old, whose career has spanned over four decades and nearly 100 films. “This was really a leap of faith with Chris,” he says. “His faith in me.”

How much did you know about your Oppenheimer character, Admiral Lewis Strauss, before receiving the script?

I knew a little bit about my character, Admiral Lewis Strauss, because I'm kind of a Cold War enthusiast. I don't know why I've been obsessed with it. I think that, sadly, that period informs where we are at nowadays in the world. I knew that Lewis Strauss was involved in the development of the proximity fuse and that he headed up the Atomic Energy Commission. I didn't really know about Strauss’s rivalry with Oppenheimer. But clearly, after 20 minutes into reading the script, I realized that that would be thematic.

Your character, in a way, becomes the hero, even though he’s the antihero.

What I think Nolan is exploring in the Strauss character is human frailty. And the fact that he so wanted to lean into these moments of vulnerability, when there's obvious indications that you're the antagonist in the story.

You are naturally funny. Was it hard to stay in a dry mindset for Oppenheimer?

Everything about playing Lewis Strauss was...I don't want to say difficult, but it was counterintuitive for me. I know that we're all mixtures of what our persona is and who we really are. Nolan was inviting me to turn the mirror onto an unexplored portion of myself. And the character, to me, is everybody who has ever felt slighted by somebody who was more important than them. It gave me a lot of time to reflect. I wondered if I've come off like that to people in the past. And I wondered if I were them, if I wouldn't seek to destroy me.

You’re also very restrained in the film. Was that difficult for you as well?

Part of the challenge in Strauss's role in Oppenheimer, for me, was that kind of containment and being still, which does not come to me easily all the time. And part of it is, I'm middle-aged. If, at this point, I can't sit on my hands and just stand there and tell the truth, then I've been doing something wrong for a long time.

You played another real person, Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin, in 1992. You were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.

There have been three times in my career when I became completely obsessed with the possibility of playing a role. First time was Chaplin. Second time was Tony Stark, in Iron Man.. And the third time—I got the trifecta, and you're lucky if this happens a couple of times—was with Lewis Strauss, for Oppenheimer.

When was your first on-screen kiss?

Probably in The Pick-up Artist, with Molly Ringwald. Warren Beatty was on set, and he was giving a lot of direction about the kiss, so much direction that by the time he was done, and he’s a super genius and I’ve learned so much from him, I wasn't even sure I knew how to kiss.

What is your astrological sign?

I’m an Aries. I don’t disbelieve anything, but do we believe there are really only 12 kinds of people on Earth? We want to feel that the future is not so uncertain and that there’s someone, like a horoscope writer, who knows exactly what we’re going through.

What is your secret skill?

Kung fu. I was in my late 30s [when I started], so I'm in my 20th year of Wing Chun kung fu. The reason I started practicing is I wanted an apprenticeship doing something that was extremely hard, that I didn't know if I'd be able to do.

And acting didn't do that for you. Acting was too easy.

Yeah. It's like rolling off a log.

Senior Style Editor: Allia Alliata di Montereale. Senior Fashion Market Editor and Menswear Director: Jenna Wojciechowski. Grooming by Davy Newkirk for Chanel at the Wall Group; manicures for portfolio by Michelle Saunders for Chanel. Set design by Peter Klein at Frank Reps. Special thanks to Ms. Bebe at Outfitters Wig Shop in Hollywood.

Produced by Connect the Dots; Executive Producer: Wes Olson; Producer: Zack Higginbottom; Production manager: Nicole Morra; Production coordinator: David Cahill; First photography assistant: Trevor Pikhart; Second photography assistant: Jeremy Eric Sinclair; Digital Technician: Brendan Pattengale; Postproduction by Lucas Rios Palazesi at Quickfix; Fashion assistants: Tori López, Tyler VanVranken, Molly Cody, India Reed, John Celaya, Kaamilah Thomas, Emily Cancelosi, Allie Kessler, Juliana Bassi, Karla Garcia, Jacqueline Chen, Cosima Croquet; Production assistants: Mateo Calvo, Aspen Miller, Nico Robledo, Griffin Koerner, Danielle Rouleau, Nicolo Battaglini, Juanes Montoya, Juan Calvo, Lily Cordingley, Nathan Gallie, Cameron Hoge, Jack Fahey, Cole Ewing, Karlie Ofstedahl; Hair assistants: Takao Hayashi, Andres Copeland; Makeup assistants: Amelia Berger, Willie Huang; Manicure assistants: Rachel Messick, Marissa Asprer; Set assistants: Christopher Crash Richard, Winston Willingham; Tailors: Irina Tshartaryan, Elma Click, Gayane Mnatsakanyan at Susie’s Custom Designs, Inc.