Robert Downey Jr. Asked Not to Be Considered for an Oscar for Avengers: Endgame: ‘Let’s Not’
Don’t expect Robert Downey Jr.‘s name on the ballot for this year’s Oscars.
In an interview on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show Tuesday, the actor, 54, was asked about having never been nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Because it’s a super hero movie? The performance is excellent, it is a totally believable character,” host Howard Stern said to Downey Jr., who has played the iconic superhero in ten Marvel films, beginning in 2008, including this year’s Avengers: Endgame.
“I’m so glad you brought this up, because there was some talk about it and I said ‘let’s not,'” Downey Jr. explained of a potential Oscar nomination.
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During the interview, Downey Jr. also reacted to Oscar-wining director Martin Scorsese’s comments about the Marvel films, including that he doesn’t consider them to be “cinema.”
“I appreciate his opinion because I think, it’s like anything, we need all of the different perspectives so we can come to centre and move on,” Downey Jr. told Stern.
Still, though the actor said he wasn’t offended by the remarks, he did say that Scorsese’s statement “makes no sense.”
“I’ll tell you the truth, I didn’t expect [the Marvel Cinematic Universe] to become what it became and it is this very large, multi-headed Hydra at this point,” Downey said. “I’ve always had other interests, and according to Scorsese, it’s not cinema so I have to take a look at that, you know?”
The controversy started when Scorsese gave his honest opinion of Marvel movies in an interview with Empire via The Guardian.
“I tried, you know?” Scorsese said of attempting to watch a superhero film released by the studio. “But that’s not cinema.”
The Irishman director continued, “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.”
“It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being,” Scorsese said.
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His opinion on the blockbuster studio and its films drew the ire of some well-known Marvel filmmakers like Joss Whedon, who directed 2012’s The Avengers and 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.
“It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.” I first think of @JamesGunn,” Whedon tweeted. “How his heart & guts are packed into GOTG. I revere Marty, & I do see his point, but… Well there’s a reason why “I’m always angry”.”
