Adding another award to his shelves, Robert Downey Jr. won his very first Oscar for his role in the 2023 film Oppenheimer.
After being announced as the Best Supporting Actor award winner, Downey took to the stage to give his acceptance speech.
“I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy — in that order,” he declared. “I’d like to thank my veterinarian — I meant wife, Susan Downey over there. She found me a snarling rescue pet and you loved me back to life. That’s why I’m here.”
Robert Downey Jr. then thanked his Oppenheimer co-stars Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt. He also thanked director Christopher Nolan, and producer Emma Thomas.
“Here’s my little secret. I needed this job more than it needed me. Chris knew it. Emma made sure that she surrounded me with one of the great casts and crews of all time — Emily, Cillian. It was fantastic.”
Downey also said that the film made him a “better” man. “What we do is meaningful,” he continued. “And the stuff that we decide to make is important.”
Finishing his time on stage, Robert Downey Jr. thanked his entertainment lawyer, Tom Hanson. “The half of which he spent trying to get me insured and bailing me out of the hoosegow — thanks, bro,” he added.
Along with winning an Oscar, Downey also won a BAFTA Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for his role in Oppenheimer.
Robert Downey Jr. Previously Spoke About How ‘Oppenheimer’ Represents the Manhattan Project
During a July 2024 interview with AP, Robert Downey Jr. spoke about how Oppenheimer represents the Manhattan Project.
“Context is so critical,” Downey told the media outlet. “The timing of the Manhattan Project, the need for it, the deployment of it, necessary or not — you can read plenty of data that would support either — regardless, the ‘why’ can be debated, but the ‘here we are now’ is the cold, hard truth.”
Robert Downey Jr. then said that under Nolan’s direction, the film’s team can “invite the audience” to be involved in the story.
“We all know the films over the last 50 years that have been important in that way, as well as entertaining and thrilling and just cool to watch. And I guess that’s the transcendent thing about certain films, you know? And so, I got to be in one. Yay.”
When asked if there was a conversation about the objective versus subjective portions of the film, Downey said, “The way Chris wrote it was meant to be, as often as not, Oppenheimer’s subjective experience. So that was, I think, one of the great, genius decisions he made.”
“By doing that, he puts us all in the position of someone who is just a human being, but they have a certain skill set and it needs to be brought to perhaps the verge of extinction to supposedly save us from another extinction.”