The Redemption of Robert Downey, Jr.

Robert Downey Jr went from a jail cell to a Hollywood icon. Unveil the man behind the Iron Man suit in this documentary that spans the highs and lows of RDJ. Now the touted king of the MCU, beneath Downey’s career of glitz and glamour lies a tale of redemption — a dark past of drugs, scandals and jail cells. A history of cracking under pressure, this is the story of how Robert Downey Jr battled his personal demons and triumphantly became a role model for all generations.

Script and Edit: Daniel McMahon
Research and Story Producer: Adam Bright
Producer: Jaden Pendegrass
Sound Mixer: Dan Pugsley
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0:00 - I Am Iron Man
0:52 - The Downfall of Downey
2:03 - Less Than Zero
2:40 - Saturday Night Live
3:14 - Robert Downey, Sr.
3:54 - First Time With Mary Jane
4:42 - It’s Mandatory, I Guess
5:43 - My Mate Mel Gibson
6:33 - Susan Levin, Soon To Be Downey
7:43 - She Saved My Life
8:13 - The Petrifying Responsibility
8:48 - The Genius of Charlie Chaplin
9:21 - Rising To The Challenge
9:32 - He Became Chaplin
10:06 - The Publish Press
11:49 - A Tremendous Buzz
12:08 - Cracking Under Pressure
12:45 - Booming on Mushrooms
13:08 - “Most Relaxed Performance in History”
13:37 - The Cops Show Up
13:55 - The Revolving Door
14:44 - Rock Bottom…?
15:23 - A Heart of Steel
15:43 - A Spark In His Eyes
16:11 - (Not) A Family Friendly Name
16:46 - The Most Gifted Actor of His Generation
17:42 - Gone to Waste
17:58 - Not This Time
18:31 - I’m Really Good At Screen Testing
19:53 - The Rest Is History
20:56 - Loosely Prearranged Destiny
21:39 - What’s Hard Is To Decide
22:31 - Thanks To
22:37 - Coming in September
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A 2023 Dodford Production.

[poweroffriendship.]

Robert Downey Dr. playing the role as Tony Stark is not only iconic, but it's also poetically fitting regarding Tony's struggle of alcoholism that reflected with RDJ's history of drug addiction, which both of them just dropped their habits and become successful later in life. Not only RDJ is born to play that role, but his character development made him destined for greatness.

[believeinmatter]

There’s an alternate timeline where we lost RDJ as a young man. His turnaround in life is nothing short of amazing

[estrellasjournal]

It’s insane how you have artfully put together a video essay largely just with interview clips. No wonder Colin and Samir shouted you out in their recent video. Maybe I’ll finally enjoy this genre of videos again.

[anomalousfiend]

as someone currently battling drugs after rehabilitating before... downey hit the nail on the head. quitting isn't the hard part. your fate lies in your decision to change or not. and honestly after hearing this... i think it's time for a change. thanks for telling downey's inspirational story dodford.

edit: i have reason to believe my history of tobacco use has caused some of the health issues i am currently battling. if you are smoking, i encourage you to stop. chalking it up to luck that i quit when i did before i could've had a more serious cardiovascular issue than i do now. death ain't worth another puff

[exiteastvideo]

This channel doesn't feel like YouTube anymore: more of an immersive experience. Not unlike going to the cinema.

[shardulgo]

That last part "what's hard is to decide" hits incredibly different when you realize RDJ made a commitment to himself (and also his significant other) to be better (become sober, be around more, not do drugs, etc.) and once that decision was made, he altered his life completely and opportunities came to him

It's a life lesson we all need to know that the hard part is just deciding. Once you've made a decision to do xyz, stick to it and reap what you've sewn.

Great edit and storytelling as always Dodford and epic ad integration too

[sanjivinsmoke]

Your documentaries are phenomenal. The clips from the past, interviews etc coupled with great usage of editing. Such a joy to learn about the struggles of people who perceived through life. We can all learn from each others struggles.

[raygatana]

Dude, this isn't youtube, this is a god damn professional documentary! This is such impressive work oh my god.

[JimmyEatDirt]

I won't pretend to have gone through nearly the struggle that RDj has gone through, but this video came out a few days into my complete quitting of smoking, a habit that i picked up years ago until i was smoking a pack a day. I think this gave me the motivation to keep going.

One month down, let's keep rolling.

Four months, I'm back to almost as good as before I started.

May 22nd, 2024: cravings almost non-existent

[SirQuantization]

I knew he was destined for more greatness once I saw him in Tropic Thunder.

[francisbaranski]

Dodford, you are THE storytelling genius!

[gunnermatthey]

Sobriety?
"Yano what it is?, It's Mandatory."
Really hit me right in the feels

[dasupertramp]

One of the best videos about RDJ that I've seen, with some great clips & quotes.
What I'm still waiting & hoping for is someone to set aside all of the "Hollywood" of it and see him, from his childhood, as a person just struggling to deal with the situations he's been put in, just see him as another human being and not a character in another Hollywood story.
He's often portrayed as just another self indulgent rich Hollywood brat. In reality, he didn't grow up rich. He had a father who was obsessed with his work. RDJ has said that his dad only paid attention to him if they were filming or if his dad was doing drugs with him. In the "SR" doc, RDS says that the first time he cared about anyone but himself was when his 2nd wife became ill.
His dad set him on the path to destruction as a child with the wild lifestyle and the drugs.
Downey's first arrests came within weeks of his wife & son leaving him. His last arrest came on a Thanksgiving holiday after she refused to let him spend the holiday with them. He was trying to numb his pain with the drug use.
When you look beyond the sensational "Hollywood" story, you find someone very relatable and inspirational. I know that many people have, but many more would understand if they knew the heart of the man.

[MeaningOnYT]

I can't even begin to imagine the amount of time and effort that went into this. Well done Dodford and Co. for creating another fantastic piece.

[thekawaiicupcake]

you’ve probably heard this before, but what’s really special about your content is that you don’t shove in a “here’s how you SHOULD feel about ___”. you present information and facts as they are, and you show the human being (along with some very awesome editing!) that’s really cool to me. it’s like, “here’s this wonderfully messy talented flawed human being! do with that what you will.” i enjoy it every time. ❤

[edo]

He took the part as Tony Stark to heart, he is a super hero for tons of kids and for sure that responsibility weighs him firmly on making sure he doesn’t ever let them down.

[squamish]

Playing Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer was the capstone of the comeback. It was such a powerhouse performance, and he really deserved that Oscar, that wasn't just Hollywood jerking itself off. He showed he had it in comedy, action, drama, everything. If it had been anyone other than Cillian Murphy in the central role RDJ could have stolen the film from him.

If he hypothetically never does another film, it doesn't matter. He's done it.

[Adnan-kgcj]

He is one of the all time greats of our era

[starry]

I've been struggling with self-doubt as an unemployed, broke 19 year old. I think I really needed to watch this video and I'm glad I did. Thank you. <3

[sadboygreggy]

*“What’s hard is to decide.” Hits different when you lived through the same struggles & tribulations RDJ has.*