Christopher Nolan says Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man was ‘one of the greatest decisions in the history of movies’

Christopher Nolan has made a bold yet fair statement about one of the actors in his latest movie.

The legendary director was doing an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast and the conversation turned to Robert Downey Jr.

The actor plays Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer, however Nolan thought it was pertinent to mention another very notable role he's portrayed in the past.

"I thought when [Jon] Favreau had the insight to cast him as Iron Man; I mean it's one of the greatest casting decisions in the history of movies," Nolan said.

Cinematic Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

"Now, you look at what that did and where that went with everything and I think that was Jon just knowing what an incredible actor, what an incredible potential there was."

Funnily enough, Downey Jr. and Nolan were in a separate interview with WIRED where he explained how that incredible casting decision came to be.

The actor initially joked that it was 'God's will' that allowed him to become one of Marvel's leading superheroes, as well as a 'pretty good screen test'.

However, he eventually gave us the backstory that we've all been craving.

"The same weekend I did a movie called Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Jon Favreau did a movie called Zathura," he explained to WIRED.

"They both tanked and we were both really hungry to try to do something that would make an impact.

"And when Iron Man came out, everyone who knew me and loved me said, ‘This will do. Until The Dark Knight comes out'. And here we are now.”

The two had a bit of back and forth and even mused what it would have been like if Nolan directed the Avengers movies.

Downey Jr. joked they would probably still be filming the first one in the franchise due to the director's trend of taking ages to create his movies.

However, Nolan hit back with his own brand of banter.

“Having worked with you on Oppenheimer, it’d probably be a lot — too much Tony Stark. You’d be running away with the movie a little bit," he said.

Because Nolan doesn't usually like to use CGI in his films, he also asked if Robert was prepared to use a real-life jet pack to play Iron Man instead of using wires and a green screen.

Topics: Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr, Christopher Nolan, Celebrity

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Senior Journalist at LADbible. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign. He is in charge of the LADbible Australia editorial content and social presence.

@stewartperrie