Robert Downey Jr. 's combat history is more inspiring than Iron Man's

Robert Downey Jr. 's past is a drama of destruction and redemption every bit as good as a Marvel superhero movie. At his home in Malibu, California, the world's highest-paid actor opens up about his lowest points and how he's transformed.

RobertDowneyJr. talked about a particular afternoon many years ago. At the time, he was making "Uplong Academy," a classic late-1970s comedy directed by his father, Robert Downie Sr. "I have a Honda scooter. It's so small, it's not even a motorcycle because I'm not old enough to drive. There was a girl named Stacy Nellkin, a natural beauty. One day, she came back from the set to her hotel and asked me to drop her off. She stepped into the car and snuggled up to me the whole way. I can't say I decided to be an actor, but it completely changed my life."

In case you didn't know, there was a time when Robert Downey Jr. was a criminal -- prisoner P50552. He was arrested for drunkenness, possession and running away from rehab, and later entered the California State Penitentiary. But for Robert Downey Jr., the experience was more useful than 10 semesters at the Strasberg School of Drama. Not only did he get a glimpse of the limitations of his career, but he also got a deeper understanding of the truth, which was as polished as leather. His work has always been well received, but now it has added new depth.

Watching his films, you see not just the work, but the entirety of his life, the story of a man who was riding high one month, crashing one month, and riding high again the next. If you look at the films he made after his freedom, the best ones seem to tell his own story: death and rebirth, salvation through the night.

The prime example is "IronMan," a parable version of Mr. Downey's personal life: TonyStark, a drunken, hard-partying billionaire industrialist with a private jet and a supermodel, was led astray by pride. Stark's car had been hijacked by terrorists -- Downey's had also been pulled over by Malibu police. Later, he escaped unsuccessfully, was caught back, put in a cave, only to die. But instead of dying, he had a new life. Wearing his armor, he flew into the sky and wiped out the enemy. Then he went back to his old life, only this time, he finally understood the meaning of it.

And just like that, Robert Downey Jr. is on his third birthday. In the first spring, he was a genius in youth movies, acting everything and acting like nothing. In his second spring out of prison, he reinvented a genre and once again made a fortune. In the third spring, now, he has turned producer and started his own film company, TeamDowney, which he manages with his wife Susan. Downey also had a big part in their first film, "TheJudge."

"No one expected a film like this to be TeamDowney's debut, but there are some tear-stained points in it." "There's something about every scene that touches me, because it touches so many things, the meaning of coming home, the broken relationships, the emotional entanglements. It was no small endeavor -- although we had Susan's reputation and I had a little influence. But what do you do when you get the chance? It's up to us." Fitzgerald once said that there are no second acts in American life, but Fitzgerald was a fool.

The career of the "Star Second Generation"

At Downey's home in Malibu, Calif., I chatted with him about his childhood, parenting and addiction. He would talk for five or ten minutes about every question I had. He spoke with a kind of madness, but there was something about it, that relaxation, that natural flow from one topic to another. Everything reminds him of something else. When we talked about his father, he suddenly brightened up.

"I remember one time, we were hanging out, and my father was wearing a superman suit. We also have a prop throne that he sits on." "He's Superman, and he wants to be king?" "Yes, he is tall and strong, dark and handsome." "You had an interesting childhood." "It's fun," Downey said. "Sometimes the people who push boundaries are the ones who had the most interesting childhoods. I don't know how many world leaders and ICONS have psychological problems."

Robert Downey Sr. made a number of breakthrough films, many of them art-house films. When he was at the top of his game in the 1970s, Downey Jr. was young and easy to learn, and he hung out with a bunch of grown-ups who got drunk. Her mother, ElsieDowney, is a writer and actress. Then his parents divorced and Donnie moved around. In New York and Los Angeles, he had some of the craziest parties of the '70s. Catalyzed by them, he saw many, and thus matured rapidly. He once shared a roll of marijuana with his father when he was six or seven. Donnie entered the entertainment world like a gangster kid coming out.

From the beginning, acting was a natural thing to do. Being in the ring every day, it's like being in it. He made his screen debut as a puppy in his father's movie "Pound." At the age of seven, she starred in the classic film Greaser's sPalace. When I asked him where he learned his acting skills, he said, "From one-acts at StageDoor, a performing arts camp, and my high school acting teacher, and RamonEstevez, who taught me tap dancing in 'Oklahoma.'" So his debut was kind of like when you go into a lake, slowly, gradually, and then dive in, so when he first hit the big time, it was like a thousand years old face.

But the real breakthrough came in 1987, when he starred in "The Pick-upartist" and then in the film adaptation of the BreteEaston Ellis novel "Zero Below Zero." He plays Julian, a sentient lost boy who is ravaged by drugs. It's a tough role to play because millions of readers already have millions of Julians in their minds, but Downey seems to have rewritten the entire book, replacing the original with his own story. Julian, a decadent party boy and product of West Coast excess, somehow morphed into a combination of Downey, drugs, movies and all the best and worst of Hollywood.

"Passion Below Zero" defined his early acting career. His frequent appearances brought him into the limelight. It was at this time that critics began to call him the most talented of his generation. Each film opens a new chapter for him, a new friendship, experience or lesson.

He co-starred in "1969" with KieferSutherland, and the two were roommates for three years. In "AirAmerica," Mr. Downey starred opposite MelGibson. Gibson couldn't forget Donnie's craziness, either. "On a chair in his dressing room, he would pick up a piece of newspaper and he would talk to the political pages, and he would rhyme. It's a wonder he hasn't been destroyed with such a brain."

No wind or rain has changed their friendship. Gibbonson was a guest at the 2011 American Film Arts Awards, presenting Downey with an award. Downey defended Gibson in his acceptance speech: "Unless you're clean as a sheet of paper -- and you're in the wrong business -- I sincerely ask you to join me in forgiving my friend's mistakes. You have given me a fresh start, and please give him the same chance to continue to make great contributions to the arts without any shame."

Mr. Downey played supporting roles for a long time before stepping up to lead role in RichardAttenborough's 1992 film "Chaplin." But he wasn't a shoo-in at first. Is he up to the task of playing Charlie Chaplin after playing a punk in "Mod Science" and a clownish clown in "BacktoSchool"? The character's age spans more than fifty years, from young and gentle to old and serious.

But Downey, through his own efforts, has turned himself into this master of the art. The dramatic fall, the sad eyes, all of it. Once he auditioned, there was nothing else to do. For his performance in Chaplin, Downey was nominated for an Academy Award. Still, Chaplin didn't make any money. It's the same with many of Downey's films. For such an actor, life can only be described as unsettled. Dusk fell on Malibu.

Downey continued our conversation. "I used to think I was the only one who could make anything work; Then I realized that I only starred in a few films in the early days, and the series had a knock-on effect. If I hadn't hit the right spot on every step, I wouldn't be doing this. It doesn't matter who did it. Then you think, this is the power of nature, I am only included in it, not that I have to. But it was a very meaningful role."

Luxury car enthusiast

He took me to a parking lot full of his stuff. Two dozen cars, all covered in gray tarps, many recognizable by their shape alone. I pointed to a car. "Porsche?" "Good eyesight! "That one over there, Corvette? 'Right again! He pointed out, one by one, a Ford F150, a Volvo, a 1970 Mustang Boss302, a 1970 Mercedes-Benz Pagoda, an Audi A8, an Audi R7 and a 2011 Volkswagen GTI. "This is all from 'Iron Man'?" "Why do you ask? I didn't even have a GTI before."

What makes a mouse press the cocaine button?

Night fell. A bright moon rose from the sea. The room lit up with yellow lights. We sat side by side, eating in the dining room. I want to talk to Donnie about his bad times, drugs and prison, but I don't want to be too intrusive. So I asked about this. One day, Donnie's neighbors came home to find Donnie passed out in their 11-year-old son's bed -- apparently because the bed happened to fit. Donnie raised his eyebrows and said, "Yeah, but that's not my usual style. And it happened to be in the public domain. I don't usually faint."

I asked him how he defeated the demon. "For some people, it just happens as they get older." 'he said. "It's normal to get addicted to something for a while and then stop. What triggers the wrong interaction between the brainstem and the midbrain, causing the forebrain to treat an occasional infatuation as a pressing need? What made the rat push the cocaine button? It's amazing to think that humans can do so many things with so little evolution."

Donnie told me he was addicted, maybe it was genetic. So we talked about his oldest son, Indio. Indior was born to his first wife, DeborahFalconer. Mr. Indio, a musician in his early 20s, was recently charged with felony drug possession.

"He's like his mother, like me, and a little bit earlier than any of us," Mr. Downey said. "But in the information age, it's common; Everything speeds up. You're dealing with bad memories, genetic predispositions, external influences and inner emotions, as well as unaddressed wounds and unmet needs. A quick look back, and you're in deep. Can you help people out of these situations? Yes. But don't get caught up in it."

After a moment's reflection, he said, "Whatever the problem is, it's tied up in family." That's the kind of compassion that comes over here. Donnie started using drugs as a child. As the success and adulation poured in, the problems began to get serious. In June 1996, he was pulled over by a police car for speeding. The police searched the car. Heroin. Cocaine. An unloaded handgun under the passenger seat. What followed was like a dream. Went into rehab, then escaped, still wearing a floral shirt and patient pants. He was sent to a more guarded rehab facility, and he escaped. In 1999, he stood before a judge and begged not to be sent to prison. "It's like having a gun in my mouth and my finger on the trigger, but I don't want the smell of brass in the barrel." Downey was sentenced to 36 months in prison and ended up serving nearly a year.

After his release in 2000, he immediately signed on as a regular on "AllyMcBeal." Downey pulled the show back from the brink. He took home a Golden Globe as the poster child for a comeback. But soon after, police, acting on an anonymous tip, searched his hotel room. Cocaine, meth, all of them. At the time, Fox pushed back and renewed him for another season. One day in the spring of 2001, after taking drugs, he was wandering the streets barefoot and dazed. So he was hauled back into rehab. Fox had no choice but to drop him.

For a while, things seemed stuck in a loop. Because it's uninsured, he can't take a feature at all. MEL Gibson stepped in, casting Downey in a small film, "Strange Detective," and personally supporting Downey to his production insurer. That cleared the way for Mr. Downey's later roles: "Gothika"; "Kiss,Kiss,Bang,Bang"; "GoodNight,andGoodLuck" by GeorgeClooney.

"Everyone wanted to say no to him, but they couldn't get the last word out because he was so talented." Gibson told me. "So you're like, what's going on? You know he's his own worst enemy. He has a weakness. We all have weaknesses. My weaknesses are far worse than his! When you realize this, you sympathize with him. His relentless pursuit of life is admirable. It was all his own effort. There's nothing anyone can do to help."

For Mr. Downey, the break came on the set of "Ghost Man," when he met SusanLevin, the executive vice president of production at SilverPictures. This woman gave Donnie an outlet for his crazy energy, and completely conquered his heart. "