Robert Downey Jr. says Dolittle and The Shaggy Dog are his most important movies

Robert Downey Jr. has revealed which movies he believes are the most important in his career – and it's probably not the titles you were expecting.

"Honestly, the two most important films I've done in the last 25 years are The Shaggy Dog, because that was the film that got Disney saying they would insure me," Downey Jr. said in a new interview with New York Times Magazine. Disney's 2006 family movie, about a district attorney who turns into a dog, was his first gig with a major Hollywood studio after being arrested a decade earlier for possession of heroin, cocaine, and an unloaded gun.

"Then the second most important film was Dolittle, because Dolittle was a two-and-a-half-year wound of squandered opportunity," he continued. The 2020 movie, which was a box office flop, starred Downey Jr. as the titular character, but was also produced by his wife, Susan Downey.

"The stress it put on my missus as she rolled her sleeves up to her armpits to make it even serviceable enough to bring to market was shocking. After that point – what's that phrase? Never let a good crisis go to waste? – we had this reset of priorities and made some changes in who our closest business advisers were."

Next up for Downey Jr. is Oppenheimer, in which he plays Lewis Strauss, commissioner and then chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. He stars alongside a stacked ensemble cast that includes Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Kenneth Branagh, Benny Safdie, and Rami Malek.

Oppenheimer arrives on the big screen on July 21. In the meantime, check out our guide to the rest of the year's biggest upcoming movies.