Robert Downey Jr. RAVES Over Cillian Murphy's 'Oppenheimer' Performance (Exclusive)

Were you familiar with J. Robert Oppenheimer before signing on to do this project? No, I had Wikipedia-level knowledge of the events, I guess. And you? I fancy myself a bit of a student of this period in time. I thought it was great the way that Chris chose expertly to cast this guy. It's literally a generation-defining performance. And it's crazy, too, that you took all those swings at doing other projects with him, and they all kind of come together in this one big partnership. And one of the things I know that Chris says is that, like it or not, J. Robert Oppenheimer was the most important person who ever lived. Yeah. Do you agree with that? It's a good tagline, isn't it? I think what happened in 1945 completely changed history, completely changed the world. And we live in the shadow of what happened in 1945 now. And people choose to think about it or not. So I think in those terms, for sure, for sure. You two in the film have a complex relationship. It's his fault. How would you describe it? Chris talked to Mozart and Salieri, and I think that was just a great shorthand. And even just by the time I was on set, seeing how Killian had embodied this character to the point where you go, like, I feel like I'm practically with the guy. You can't help but feel a little bit iced out by it. Now Killian is so warm and nice and inviting, but then we'd roll, and I'd feel like he was looking through me like I didn't exist. And I was like, that sucks. And I can only imagine there was a lot of people who felt that way. Louis Strauss was in a position to do something about it. I don't know how culpable he was for that. But it is a story of how small imagined slights between important people can have big impacts. And that's the beauty of the story. It's this tiny story in one way between these two men, and then this ginormous story about life and death. And you say, too, that this is not meant to be a history lesson for the audience. No, no. But I do think it may provoke people to go and read about this if they so wish. Do you know what I mean? But no, it's entertaining and thrilling. But I do think it will be very thought-provoking as well. And there's an intensity to this as well. One of the other things Chris Nolan has said, too, is noted is that audiences have left the theater just gutted and devastated. With a project like this, there is a fear factor. I saw it. I mean, associated with it, where you do walk out of there, and you're a little bit, well, actually, a lot bit frightened. Yeah. I love that, though, man. Do you? If a piece of art can, like, alter your emotions and kind of mess you up, I mean, that's something profound. I think part of it, too, is, and I think Chris is obviously just a master storyteller, but to achieve what Oppenheimer did and to be that conflicted about it, but to be so praised for it. That's why there's themes in this film about being held up in this rarefied air for something that you're so conflicted about. And I think we can feel that about, I mean, we'll just say it, the way your life is changing now as you're going to be in front of this huge film. And we always have two sets of feelings. One is, that's great, and maybe I'll have even more opportunities for roles. The other is, what about my privacy and this and that? And writ large, as it affected the planet, I think every time they were giving him a round of applause and stomping their feet, he felt a little bit awful. Absolutely. What do you two hope that the audience takes away? Well, like I said earlier, I think it asks the biggest, hugest, most complex kind of questions, the most profound kind of ethical and moral questions. But at the same time, it is so thrilling. Because you're on the ride. That's what I mean. It kind of grabs you by the neck from the first frame, and you're kind of in it. And it also sometimes has a kind of horror element to it. Do you feel that? Big time. The look in your eye sometimes. It's like, oh, you know what? What's about to go down? And where is he about to take me? And do I want to go? I mean, as I'm sitting here watching. So it has so many different components to it. And it's entertaining in so many different ways. And again, challenging. And what I love about these films, the sorts of films that Chris makes, is he presupposes that the audiences are smart, which they are. And he's done that all the way through with his films. Yeah. I would say, too, that, look, we've been in this really odd thousand days of wondering even what the future of entertainment was going to be. And this is a definitive statement that cinema is moving forward while staying connected to its roots. And there's a purist element to this. But it is also every bit as cool and fun a ride as any genre movie you're going to see this summer, for sure. There was initially, I didn't realize it was you. Excellent. The hair, the hairline. Love it. Yeah. I heard that a few times. I think more than anything, it was things that Chris asked me to remove from my approach rather than add on to. So I'm always down for getting spartan and stripping things away. It's not easy, because I'm a little bit of a Mexican jumping bean by nature. But it was a gift. And being able to do all these scenes with you as you carried this film as exceptionally as you did was just an honor to me. Well, likewise, man. And I was reading, too, that you were discerning about what your next role might be as you were just trying to decide what's it going to be. And you kind of gave yourself like a year or so down time with your family. But this really caught your eye. Yeah. It scared me. I mean, nowhere near as much as I'm sure. When you first read this thing, I got, oh, my God, I have to do this whole thing because Chris just called. But anyway, I got to experience it. It was also nice to have the pressure off. I was like, let this guy do the heavy lifting. That's not true. Oh, yeah. I come in, hey, I had it like four days off. I was just kind of, you know, antiquing around Santa Fe. What have you been up to? And he'd be like, I'm going to run the lines. Are you an antique guy? Love it. Do you? A little bit. How do you know when something's good? You know, you feel like you need it. And by the way, Santa Fe, fantastic. Now, he was also at all the locations where there was like, you know, 60 mile an hour winds and all that stuff. I hung out for the kind of pleasant fair weather-wise. I didn't antique. I didn't do antiquing. I didn't know it was a verb, actually. Did he bring you a gift? Did you bring him a little something? It's still being created.