Robert Downey Jr.: The Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid - Softcover

Falk, Ben

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1907554017 ISBN 13: 9781907554018

Publisher: Portico, 2010

Synopsis

The first detailed and authoritative account of the life, career, stardom, and controversy of one of Hollywood’s most popular and gifted actors

 "I've always felt like an outsider in this industry. Because I'm so insane I guess."  —Robert Downey Jr.  Robert Downey Jr.'s life isn't a movie—but it could be. This biography is an insightful, devastating, scathing, and ultimately uplifting journey into the realms of Hollywood’s darkest excesses and successes. Downey now commands $25 million a movie—not bad for someone who 10 years ago was in prison, addicted to heroin and cocaine, and one bad choice away from death. Sherlock Holmes was one of last year's biggest blockbusters, with its sequel expected at the end of 2011, while summer 2010 blockbuster Iron Man 2 continued the fun and the high praise for Downey of its predecessor. His is without a doubt Hollywood's greatest ever comeback.

About this title

From the Author

Ben Falk is an entertainment journalist who has written for such publications as Empire, the Observer, the Sun, Total Film, and Us Weekly, and has been an entertainment correspondent in London and Los Angeles. He is the coauthor of Television's Strangest Moments.

From Booklist

The 2008 blockbuster Iron Man finally made Robert Downey Jr. a superstar at 43, but just a decade prior he was deeply mired in years of legal troubles, failed relationships, and box-office flops, despite widespread acclaim for his natural-born artistry and a best actor Oscar nomination for 1992’s Chaplin. British journalist Falk meticulously details the turbulence in his unauthorized biography of the actor, who began a harrowing descent into decades of drug addiction after his cult-film director father shared a joint with his young son. In 1999, at arguably his lowest point, Downey told a judge, “It’s like I’ve got a shotgun in my mouth, and my finger’s on the trigger and I like the taste of gun metal,” before being sentenced to three years in state prison (he served nearly a year). Falk obviously has a great deal of respect for his subject, which he weaves throughout this even-handed portrait. Downey’s midcareer comeback is also given fair shrift in this absorbing account of one man’s amazing triumph over his voracious demons. --Chris Keech

Edition details

• Publisher: Portico
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1907554017
• ISBN 13: 9781907554018
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320