After winning an Academy Award for Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. is taking on another epic creative challenge. For the first time in his career, Downey Jr. is heading to Broadway. The actor will star in “McNeal,” written by the pulitzer-winner, Ayad Akhtar (“Disgraced”), and directed by Bartlett Sher (“To Kill A Mockingbird”).
Previews begin September 5th at LCT’s Vivian Beaumont Theater. The official opening is September 30th, November 24th is the scheduled closing night.
Downey will star as Jacob McNeal, a brilliant writer and Nobel Prize candidate. Of course, he’s a struggling genius and “also has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with Artificial Intelligence.” Team Downey, which is led by the actor and his partner, Susan Downey (former executive vice president of Silver Pictures), are producing the play in association with the Lincoln Center Theater.
Downey Jr. is surprising audiences again. It’s what audiences hope for from any great actor. Even in Oppenheimer, he surprised himself by dropping a many of his, let’s say, recent signatures as a performer and delivered a quiet but terrifying portrait of ego.
The movie star, who’s currently starring in HBO’s The Sympathizer, is on a creative roll similar to his mid-2000s comeback that included A Scanner Darkly, Goodnight and Good Luck, and Zodiac. The projects that led to an inspiring career resurgence with Iron Man and Tropic Thunder one summer. Once again, the actor is revealing his tremendous range in a variety of projects.
