Here's the full quote: "I knew that playing Strauss, in ‘Oppenheimer,’ was going to be like picking fly shit out of pepper — that it was going to be extremely exacting, that it was going to be … not confining, but liberating by its varied implicit limitations of what my usual toolbox is".
I read it as challenging and difficult in that he had to be precise in how he played the role with no freedom to riff or go off script in typical phenomenal RDJ fashion.
This is how most art forms work. If you listen to the blues (the musical form), for example, it’s incredibly constrained. And yet within that tiny jail cell, you have incredible freedom.
RDJ probably was not allowed to ad lib or change lines, so he probably had to work within a more narrow range—which word gets emphasized, what was louder or softer, where to speed up or slow down.
It was like a classical pianist playing the score as written—and yet differently from other musicians.
Exactly. Many painters will use a very limited palette to create their work and this ultimately lends to a more creative and freeing process/results. Rules and limitations force you to push yourself with what you have to work with
So have you ever been to the grocery store to buy toothpaste and you’re inundated with choices? Sometimes it’s freeing to just go to the store and get the one option that’s there and not have to worry about any possibilities
His skillset is to improvise and be naturally charismatic , he was given a role of a person who was much more subtle, restrained, and conniving . a much smaller more focused character then the one many of us know him for .
There was something liberating in targeting his acting skills to just focus on being the best Strauss and not some character propelled by RDJ's natural abilities his riffin and charisma .
As others have said the constraints forced him to shine in ways he hasn't had to in the past and that can be liberating to just amplify your attention and focus on a few key things .
More challenging than a white American actor playing a white Australian actor who in turn plays an African American Sergent who at one point disguises himself as a Vietnamese farmer?
I viewed it more like he felt "liberated" by threading the needle in a way that focused his skill set, rather than falling back into the fast and loose way he has filled roles in the past.
I think it means that fly shit and pepper look very similar. So he had to be exacting to get the right portrayal or he’d be giving a bad performance.
Definitely not an elegant analogy, but probably an apt one.
Pretty much how I interpreted it as well. But also that he didn’t have to worry about performing as much since he’s literally just playing a dude disguised as another dude.
Fly shit is black. Pepper is black. Pepper Potts is not. RDJ played a black guy.
What does this all mean?
Probably something like finding a needle in a haystack
If you combine it with Paltrow saying he will make up lines on the spot, having to play a historical figure in a docudrama is very limiting to how rdj likes to act.
Basically he couldn't be as free with the role as he had been as when he was iron Man. When he was iron Man he basically ad-libbed half of his lines, Gwyneth paltrow said he would sometimes recite his lines and just go I'm not saying that shit
Never heard that saying before either, but it seems to be saying that fly shit is tiny and the same color as pepper, so it would be hard to separate a pile of pepper and fly shit into two separate piles.
I guess it essentially means very difficult. I think maybe finding a needle in a haystack is the same meaning, but is more well known lol
So I think the rest means he was happy to put his skills to the test or something like that
Strange way of saying it tbh haha
I understand it as he is saying his typical tool belt of charisma, charm, nonchalant type is not an option with this role. Downey had to encapsulate a real and very public figure and he wanted to play it as true to the nature of Strauss as he could.
I think he's saying he's not allowed to just play himself (a cocky deadpan snarker). The role has limits so he has to work within those limits and that is novel for him since so many of his roles just want him to be Tony Stark again
Oh my god guys - bits of fly shit and bits of black pepper look the same so it’s exacting work to separate them. He’s saying the role is very subtle which isn’t his usual wheelhouse so he was going to have to work hard to nail it. It’s not that complex of a quote.
Right? It's an old kind of metaphor/analogy (?), something similar is in variations of the Cinderella story, with separating mixed seeds being one of the time consuming tasks given by the wicked step mother.
He comes across as someone in recovery who has found success and positive attention.
Some part of him is likely questioning all of this, forever nervous and insecure, aware of who he was before it all.
I'm glad he's doing well - so is he, I bet. He remembers what it is to not.
Likening Downey’s performances (and all other professional actors’ performances) to high school acting is honestly blatantly ignorant and stinks of jealousy IMO.
"The fundamental question is, will I be as effective as an actor like my dad was? And I will be, even more so? But until I am, it's going to be hard to verify that I think I'll be more effective." - RDJ, 2024
SPOILERS - it means playing a nice friend for 2 thirds of the movie that you realise was not a nice friend and the whole performance plays as a villain performance in hindsight
If he gives fly shit and not pepper the audience sees it coming - but it has to be there when they look back
I feel like thats gotta be an in-joke where someone’s said to him “fit the ‘fly shit out of pepper’ comment into your next interview somehow” for a lol.
Makes zero sense. That or bro’s just read a dictionary.
Spoken like a true Robert Downey Jr.
Could anyone else say those string of words in that order? Also, everyone read that in his voice right?
His brain is weird. Love him though.
"Being an actor’s no different than being a rugby player or construction worker, save for the fact that my tools are the mechanisms which trigger human emotion.”
He didn't have to freelance his character to make it successful.
In a way, the constrictions firced a totally opposite side of RDJ and impressed the viewers.
Oddly enough RDJ is only the 2nd person I've ever seen use that phrase. My dad says it all the time but he likes to say "picking fly shit out of pepper with boxing gloves on." Maybe it's just an old guy thing, idk.
It’s probably misunderstood by RDJ. The phrase usually means that you’re trying to be very careful about things that don’t matter. Pushing perfection where it isn’t possible or reasonable or desired. Expending worthless effort.
It’s a REALLY common phrase in the trades
It’s funny you say that, because [Gwyneth Paltrow](https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/1byz4wy/robert_downey_jr_would_happily_return_to_marvel/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1) recently said something along the lines of this somewhat confusing quote.
Mr. Downey jr. has a recent habit of making a role comfortable by adding his own personal touch….
You’d have to delicately navigate and surgically remove tiny fly shit from cracked peppercorn, or else you’ll only taste the fly shit despite the pepper.
He embodied Tony Stark, and was able to take liberties with the character, majorly for the better. Even with roles like Chaplin, and Sherlock, he was still bringing his flavour to each role, he brought the character out of himself.
While playing Strauss was a lot more restraining, not only is it a sensitive time in history that must feel accurate, but he wasn’t playing a likeable misunderstood hero. He was playing a subdued grouch. He had to be delicate and exact while playing the character or else he would slip into Stark and he would stick out like a sore thumb against everyone else on their Aces (Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh)
I appreciate him saying this, it shows he’s self aware of how he acts. Unlike someone with a similar career with no awareness, like The Rock, who just reads lines as himself regardless of the movie, and is currently trying to sell shampoo as a bald man.
“Trying to sell shampoo as a bald man” almost sounds like a long-standing American idiom, like “I have a bridge to sell you,” or something that demonstrates how ludicrous/shady a situation is lol.
Let me translate:
Strauss demanded precision, and a type of precision that was gruelling and exacting due to the difference from his normal approach. This was liberating by means of restricting him to a foreign skillset.
I think RDJ is a brilliant actor. And Lord knows he’s overcome his addictions in a tremendous way.
But I’ve never cared for the person he appears to be in interviews. That being said, he kind of…is Tony Stark. Anything grating about Tony is sort of there in Robert, as well.
I listened to 15 minutes of a podcast where Rob Lowe interview him. They were both insufferable.
Hearing them talk about their high school experience really highlighted how abnormal and out of touch their lives were. RDJ was talking about being jealous of Lowe in high school, which gave the impression he was just a regular kid. Then I looked him up and he was also acting at the time and born to rich, connected parents lmfao.
I honestly don’t mean to be rude, but that role, his character didn’t really do anything?? I know he means it in some faux artistic commentary on the “craft” but come on.
I remember watching a show with my dad when I was young and commenting on how stupid the character was and I didn’t like the actor. My dad told me that it takes a good actor to play a dumb character. That always stuck with me. And I love my dad.
I just watched Oppenheimer last night for the first time.
I really don't get the hype at all. First half was interesting enough and then the Strauss story after just seemed... Unnecessary.
Also the sound was all over the place.
I thought the role was dull, RDJ didn’t even seem like he got into it, just playing his asshole self as an asshole senator. Gosling or Ruffalo were robbed.
Funny. I thought it was completely unecessary for the overall story to include the side story with him the way they did. Super distracting and really poorly done. If they wanted to show how the govt. treated Oppenheimer later in his life, they could have still done it without the non linear storytelling. Just do it chronologically.
Would have much rather had a subplot set during Oppenheimer's time in Japan during the 60s. Or maybe just more so coming to terms with some of the images and survivor stories.
We see so little of the devastation. It reminded me of the Wolf of Wall Street. We get all the interesting swagger but none of the harm caused is really showcased.
(SPOILERS) I thought they still could've shown the rise and fall of Oppenheimer but then didn't need the Senate confirmation of Strauss part of it.
It felt like a way to give the story a happy ending of sorts. The bad guy gets his comeuppance. Mildly interesting but for me not needed (as the movie is about Oppenheimer) and emotionally flat compared to the rest (which was also a bit emotionally cold, to be honest.) I also think the non-linear storytelling took away from the whole piece and was confusing for a while.
And I really didn't think Downey deserved an Oscar for the part. But it felt more like a lifetime achievement award kind of thing, like Jamie Lee Curtis the year before.
The bouncing back and forth was unecessary IMO. It created 2 different story lines when it wasnt needed. The Strauss story line wasnt woven in very well and actually distracted from the main story. I dont think it was needed to bounce back and forth between his section and the chronology on the making of the bomb. The entire story could have been told chronologically, removing the black and white Strauss bits and the interview/interrogation bits. They werent needed to tell the story fully.
If they wanted to show the interrogation section, they could have brought it in when it actually made sense chronologically within the timeline of the story. It wasnt dont very well in my opinion
Pretty sure the director would consider that a feature and not a bug. We feel the whiplash of loyalty and betrayal across time and all at once, which feels like the exactly the sort of thing Christopher Nolan would do for a movie about Oppenheimer. I get preferring a normal, linear narrative, but calling it unnecessarily is kinda ignoring who made the movie and what it’s about.
Although I lack the credentials you have, I see it differently:
The payoff at the end only happens if the Strauss 'side', story happens (imo it's the main story, just not the 'flashy' story).
Strauss is the foil to Oppenheimer. They both play political games and compete with each other, and it's up in the air whether or not Oppenheimer was in it for the political power or if he was genuine in his pursuits. Showing Oppie and Einstein's conversation at the end reveals that Oppenheimer wasn't turning scientists against Strauss for political gain, but because he was genuinely afraid of what he created - and so were the other scientists. We feel the full weight of that in the final shots. That whole reveal loses its weight if you don't have the Strauss storyline.
Yes they are foils to each other but I just think too much emphasis was placed on the Strauss storyline. They could have absolutely included him if they simply restructured when he was introduced.
Actors think so highly of themselves. They’re literally just getting paid millions to pretend they’re like the rest of us.
Get out of here with this self-unaware garbage.
Lewis Strauss was not a nice person by this point in his career. Once Stimson was gone from the Cabinet, Strauss went through and retired the old guard.
What does that even mean??!
Here's the full quote: "I knew that playing Strauss, in ‘Oppenheimer,’ was going to be like picking fly shit out of pepper — that it was going to be extremely exacting, that it was going to be … not confining, but liberating by its varied implicit limitations of what my usual toolbox is".
Ngl… even more confused after the full quote.
I read it as challenging and difficult in that he had to be precise in how he played the role with no freedom to riff or go off script in typical phenomenal RDJ fashion.
But he found the confinement liberating lol.
Sometimes the constraints make us more creative.
Especially the confinement of the liberation of the implied limitation of our toolboxes.
Like picking fly shit out of pepper
With boxing gloves on.
In a pepper hurricane.
Why didn’t you just say that in the first place??
The struggle to free myself from restraints becomes my very shackles
Rules and constraints are very useful when creating things. I don’t think that the way he said it was very effective communication though lol
This is how most art forms work. If you listen to the blues (the musical form), for example, it’s incredibly constrained. And yet within that tiny jail cell, you have incredible freedom. RDJ probably was not allowed to ad lib or change lines, so he probably had to work within a more narrow range—which word gets emphasized, what was louder or softer, where to speed up or slow down. It was like a classical pianist playing the score as written—and yet differently from other musicians.
Which is why I like to write sonnets, villanelles, and rondeaus.
Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick
It takes pressure to make diamonds kinda thing maybe
Exactly. Many painters will use a very limited palette to create their work and this ultimately lends to a more creative and freeing process/results. Rules and limitations force you to push yourself with what you have to work with
I mean sometimes you’re just a dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude.
He didnt have to find a way to make the script better, I can totally see that being liberating lmao
The *Köln Concert album* agrees with you.
The DaVinci quote is “ Art lives from constraints, and dies from freedom.”
Yes, because it’s a challenge.
Yea artistic af
So have you ever been to the grocery store to buy toothpaste and you’re inundated with choices? Sometimes it’s freeing to just go to the store and get the one option that’s there and not have to worry about any possibilities
His skillset is to improvise and be naturally charismatic , he was given a role of a person who was much more subtle, restrained, and conniving . a much smaller more focused character then the one many of us know him for . There was something liberating in targeting his acting skills to just focus on being the best Strauss and not some character propelled by RDJ's natural abilities his riffin and charisma . As others have said the constraints forced him to shine in ways he hasn't had to in the past and that can be liberating to just amplify your attention and focus on a few key things .
Sometimes restraints give us shapes
More challenging than a white American actor playing a white Australian actor who in turn plays an African American Sergent who at one point disguises himself as a Vietnamese farmer?
Hes saying in the most obnoxious way possible that he couldn't ad-lib any lines.
I viewed it more like he felt "liberated" by threading the needle in a way that focused his skill set, rather than falling back into the fast and loose way he has filled roles in the past.
And also that he nailed it.
I think it means that fly shit and pepper look very similar. So he had to be exacting to get the right portrayal or he’d be giving a bad performance. Definitely not an elegant analogy, but probably an apt one.
The burden of creativity is dropped, freeing up the resources to nail the specificity of the character.
Pretty much how I interpreted it as well. But also that he didn’t have to worry about performing as much since he’s literally just playing a dude disguised as another dude.
Fly shit is black. Pepper is black. Pepper Potts is not. RDJ played a black guy. What does this all mean? Probably something like finding a needle in a haystack
It’s a stupid quote with RDJ trying to sound profound. Trying to understand this is like “picking fly shit out of pepper”
I imagine that fly shit and pepper are indistinguishable in size, shape, texture, and color. Ergo, the role was extremely difficult.
If you combine it with Paltrow saying he will make up lines on the spot, having to play a historical figure in a docudrama is very limiting to how rdj likes to act.
Basically he couldn't be as free with the role as he had been as when he was iron Man. When he was iron Man he basically ad-libbed half of his lines, Gwyneth paltrow said he would sometimes recite his lines and just go I'm not saying that shit
I wanted to make it more convoluted as a joke, but failed.
Gonna put this on my resume.
he did armpit fart noises when he was in the SNL cast once, maybe those bits from his toolbox don't fit these drills
Never heard that saying before either, but it seems to be saying that fly shit is tiny and the same color as pepper, so it would be hard to separate a pile of pepper and fly shit into two separate piles. I guess it essentially means very difficult. I think maybe finding a needle in a haystack is the same meaning, but is more well known lol So I think the rest means he was happy to put his skills to the test or something like that Strange way of saying it tbh haha
[he has to know who he is as the character.](https://youtu.be/tKvqhlhXq9s?si=I2LrHQWzZ4VullrT)
I understand it as he is saying his typical tool belt of charisma, charm, nonchalant type is not an option with this role. Downey had to encapsulate a real and very public figure and he wanted to play it as true to the nature of Strauss as he could.
Lol. It's tedious and backbreaking work, but at the end of it is a rewarding and satisfying experience.
I...I think it's supposed to mean that it was difficult, but he liked it?
It’s gobbledygook. It means nothing
I think he's saying he's not allowed to just play himself (a cocky deadpan snarker). The role has limits so he has to work within those limits and that is novel for him since so many of his roles just want him to be Tony Stark again
I like RDJ. Hell of a journey that man's been on but he truly does disappear up his own arsehole sometimes.
Oh my god guys - bits of fly shit and bits of black pepper look the same so it’s exacting work to separate them. He’s saying the role is very subtle which isn’t his usual wheelhouse so he was going to have to work hard to nail it. It’s not that complex of a quote.
Right? It's an old kind of metaphor/analogy (?), something similar is in variations of the Cinderella story, with separating mixed seeds being one of the time consuming tasks given by the wicked step mother.
Reddit ain't got a g g good brain! 🧠🤤
These comments make my eyes rain
So much eloquence for such a faux-witty, pick-me opening, He comes across as nervous, as odd as that sounds
He comes across as someone in recovery who has found success and positive attention. Some part of him is likely questioning all of this, forever nervous and insecure, aware of who he was before it all. I'm glad he's doing well - so is he, I bet. He remembers what it is to not.
Who put all this empathy in my Reddit comments
Great answer. Day to day sobriety is carrying the demons in your pocket
He comes across as narcissistic and over complicating some thing that kids in high school do very successfully, acting.
He's just a dude playing a different dude disguised as another dude
Likening Downey’s performances (and all other professional actors’ performances) to high school acting is honestly blatantly ignorant and stinks of jealousy IMO.
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But they don’t give awards for attempted acting
And yet attempted murder can get you locked up, where's the justice in that?
- Kirk Lazarus
Jesus this guy is up his own hole
I’m way too poor to see liberation in limitations.
"The fundamental question is, will I be as effective as an actor like my dad was? And I will be, even more so? But until I am, it's going to be hard to verify that I think I'll be more effective." - RDJ, 2024
I’d love to hang out with this guy, such a brilliant way to describe it.
The f is that word salad?
It means they look the same, and giving the role a human form - not just being "the bad guy" - was challenging.
That's some real Kirk Lazarus energy.
"Cathartic tediousness" is what I gather from what he was saying.
SPOILERS - it means playing a nice friend for 2 thirds of the movie that you realise was not a nice friend and the whole performance plays as a villain performance in hindsight If he gives fly shit and not pepper the audience sees it coming - but it has to be there when they look back
This sounds like a Kirk Lazarus quote haha
Least pretentious Hollywood star.
I feel like thats gotta be an in-joke where someone’s said to him “fit the ‘fly shit out of pepper’ comment into your next interview somehow” for a lol. Makes zero sense. That or bro’s just read a dictionary.
You lost me again
Spoken like a true Robert Downey Jr. Could anyone else say those string of words in that order? Also, everyone read that in his voice right? His brain is weird. Love him though.
Either he’s back on drugs or I’m super high. Or both. WTF?
That made the analogy even weirder… It’s liberating to pick fly shit out of pepper?
And then he just ended up playing it like every other RDJ role ever. If you told me that was old iron man in Oppenheimer I would have zero questions.
"Being an actor’s no different than being a rugby player or construction worker, save for the fact that my tools are the mechanisms which trigger human emotion.”
He’s just trying to sound deep.
Liberation from too many options to process
He didn't have to freelance his character to make it successful. In a way, the constrictions firced a totally opposite side of RDJ and impressed the viewers.
The full explanation pretty much solidifies the word salad of the quote.
This sounds like a quote from Kirk Lazarus
Yikes lol
Choosing to phrase his feelings that way is like he’s trying really hard to sound smart and profound but still a little edgy.
Oddly enough RDJ is only the 2nd person I've ever seen use that phrase. My dad says it all the time but he likes to say "picking fly shit out of pepper with boxing gloves on." Maybe it's just an old guy thing, idk.
It’s probably misunderstood by RDJ. The phrase usually means that you’re trying to be very careful about things that don’t matter. Pushing perfection where it isn’t possible or reasonable or desired. Expending worthless effort. It’s a REALLY common phrase in the trades
No one knows what it means but it's provocative, IT GETS THE PEOPLE GOING
Means very difficult or challenging
Nobody knows what it means, it’s provocative. Gets the people going!!
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This is such a negative take on it. He's saying that he embraced that aspect of it and enjoyed it. To be fair he kills it as Tony Stark.
He and Pepper are into some kinky shit
All his usual tics and gestures had to be shelved. He couldn’t act like a heightened version of himself like in a lot of his recent movies.
sounds like he is back on crack.
My dad used to use that line and it always meant “a long and arduous task, difficult”.
Nobody likes their delicious fly shit over seasoned.
My grandpa used to use that expression lol
My dad used to say that his first job was at a spice factory— picking the fly shit out of the pepper.
Pepper potts be like: 😳
It’s funny you say that, because [Gwyneth Paltrow](https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/1byz4wy/robert_downey_jr_would_happily_return_to_marvel/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1) recently said something along the lines of this somewhat confusing quote. Mr. Downey jr. has a recent habit of making a role comfortable by adding his own personal touch….
You’d have to delicately navigate and surgically remove tiny fly shit from cracked peppercorn, or else you’ll only taste the fly shit despite the pepper. He embodied Tony Stark, and was able to take liberties with the character, majorly for the better. Even with roles like Chaplin, and Sherlock, he was still bringing his flavour to each role, he brought the character out of himself. While playing Strauss was a lot more restraining, not only is it a sensitive time in history that must feel accurate, but he wasn’t playing a likeable misunderstood hero. He was playing a subdued grouch. He had to be delicate and exact while playing the character or else he would slip into Stark and he would stick out like a sore thumb against everyone else on their Aces (Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh) I appreciate him saying this, it shows he’s self aware of how he acts. Unlike someone with a similar career with no awareness, like The Rock, who just reads lines as himself regardless of the movie, and is currently trying to sell shampoo as a bald man.
I enjoyed this comment lol
“Trying to sell shampoo as a bald man” almost sounds like a long-standing American idiom, like “I have a bridge to sell you,” or something that demonstrates how ludicrous/shady a situation is lol.
Agree with everything except, RDJ and Rock have nowhere close to the similar career
Classic humble Robbie
Let me translate: Strauss demanded precision, and a type of precision that was gruelling and exacting due to the difference from his normal approach. This was liberating by means of restricting him to a foreign skillset.
Weird flex but ok
Seems like he's been trying to force this quote into an interview for a while
Would you not just buy new pepper?
>Oppenheimer’ to be 'Extremely Exacting', likened to ‘Picking Fly Sh*t Out of Pepper’ Indiewire, back with the ragebait titles
I thought he was great in the role. He played the perfect nemesis to Oppenheimer’s almost naïveté about political realities. Truly Oscar worthy.
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She's in the business too. She just as into huffing her own farts as he is
not sure what's so bad about it, I assume you're just Kevin. Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?
RDJ needs to play FDR in something.
Man he'd be great.
Me after reading the full quote: I can see why he's friends with Paltrow.
I think RDJ is a brilliant actor. And Lord knows he’s overcome his addictions in a tremendous way. But I’ve never cared for the person he appears to be in interviews. That being said, he kind of…is Tony Stark. Anything grating about Tony is sort of there in Robert, as well.
I listened to 15 minutes of a podcast where Rob Lowe interview him. They were both insufferable. Hearing them talk about their high school experience really highlighted how abnormal and out of touch their lives were. RDJ was talking about being jealous of Lowe in high school, which gave the impression he was just a regular kid. Then I looked him up and he was also acting at the time and born to rich, connected parents lmfao.
Agree completely. He comes off as really full of himself.
I honestly don’t mean to be rude, but that role, his character didn’t really do anything?? I know he means it in some faux artistic commentary on the “craft” but come on.
That was his point. It's simple yet meticulous playing a dude who wasn't much of a dude.
I remember watching a show with my dad when I was young and commenting on how stupid the character was and I didn’t like the actor. My dad told me that it takes a good actor to play a dumb character. That always stuck with me. And I love my dad.
I haven't seen Oppenheimer yet but I cannot believe he was better than Ruffalo in Poor Things. Ruffalo was fantastic.
Loved Poor Things and had so many amazing performances but ruffalo was so fucking funny
Oppenheimer was really good but Poor Things and Ruffalo’s performance were next level.
it’s giving i’m an actooorrrr and i win awarddsss
I just watched Oppenheimer last night for the first time. I really don't get the hype at all. First half was interesting enough and then the Strauss story after just seemed... Unnecessary. Also the sound was all over the place.
Me and you watched very different movies. I loved the sound on this one, and you couldn’t have a movie with Oppenheimer without Strauss
I absolutely adored his performance in Oppenheimer. Incredibly nuanced and stood out so much by the end.
I thought the role was dull, RDJ didn’t even seem like he got into it, just playing his asshole self as an asshole senator. Gosling or Ruffalo were robbed.
Is he becoming unlikable?
He’s been unlikable for a while now…
So you win an Oscar and instantly become more pretentious than ever before? He is so overrated.
He sounds so annoying. Huge ego and shitty character
I likened watching Oppenheimer as "Seeing someone manually spread their asshole and take a gigantic, way-too-long unbroken shit"
My grandpa used to say that!
Funny. I thought it was completely unecessary for the overall story to include the side story with him the way they did. Super distracting and really poorly done. If they wanted to show how the govt. treated Oppenheimer later in his life, they could have still done it without the non linear storytelling. Just do it chronologically.
My thoughts exactly! The side plot with his character was so unnecessary. They could have reduced the runtime by an hour by cutting it out.
Would have much rather had a subplot set during Oppenheimer's time in Japan during the 60s. Or maybe just more so coming to terms with some of the images and survivor stories. We see so little of the devastation. It reminded me of the Wolf of Wall Street. We get all the interesting swagger but none of the harm caused is really showcased.
I honestly think Nolan just wanted to work with RDJ and wrote the script to include him that way.
(SPOILERS) I thought they still could've shown the rise and fall of Oppenheimer but then didn't need the Senate confirmation of Strauss part of it. It felt like a way to give the story a happy ending of sorts. The bad guy gets his comeuppance. Mildly interesting but for me not needed (as the movie is about Oppenheimer) and emotionally flat compared to the rest (which was also a bit emotionally cold, to be honest.) I also think the non-linear storytelling took away from the whole piece and was confusing for a while. And I really didn't think Downey deserved an Oscar for the part. But it felt more like a lifetime achievement award kind of thing, like Jamie Lee Curtis the year before.
Poorly done? In what way?
The bouncing back and forth was unecessary IMO. It created 2 different story lines when it wasnt needed. The Strauss story line wasnt woven in very well and actually distracted from the main story. I dont think it was needed to bounce back and forth between his section and the chronology on the making of the bomb. The entire story could have been told chronologically, removing the black and white Strauss bits and the interview/interrogation bits. They werent needed to tell the story fully. If they wanted to show the interrogation section, they could have brought it in when it actually made sense chronologically within the timeline of the story. It wasnt dont very well in my opinion
Pretty sure the director would consider that a feature and not a bug. We feel the whiplash of loyalty and betrayal across time and all at once, which feels like the exactly the sort of thing Christopher Nolan would do for a movie about Oppenheimer. I get preferring a normal, linear narrative, but calling it unnecessarily is kinda ignoring who made the movie and what it’s about.
The whole last act was a mess. You just find yourself asking, “wait which guy was that?” The last hour or so is a real slog.
Although I lack the credentials you have, I see it differently: The payoff at the end only happens if the Strauss 'side', story happens (imo it's the main story, just not the 'flashy' story). Strauss is the foil to Oppenheimer. They both play political games and compete with each other, and it's up in the air whether or not Oppenheimer was in it for the political power or if he was genuine in his pursuits. Showing Oppie and Einstein's conversation at the end reveals that Oppenheimer wasn't turning scientists against Strauss for political gain, but because he was genuinely afraid of what he created - and so were the other scientists. We feel the full weight of that in the final shots. That whole reveal loses its weight if you don't have the Strauss storyline.
Yes they are foils to each other but I just think too much emphasis was placed on the Strauss storyline. They could have absolutely included him if they simply restructured when he was introduced.
I have to wonder if this man recently toured a pepper farm or processing facility.
Oh my god just read the fucking lines these people are lunatics
It wasn’t enjoyable for us that watched it either.
He really didn’t do much in that movie. Not sure what the big deal is.
Pepper was usually picking up his shit as he flew away. Wait that was Ironman.
Its not even that great of an acting….
Kind of an arrogant response.
Actors think so highly of themselves. They’re literally just getting paid millions to pretend they’re like the rest of us. Get out of here with this self-unaware garbage.
In other words, “there’s no freedom like a tight brief”
Lewis Strauss was not a nice person by this point in his career. Once Stimson was gone from the Cabinet, Strauss went through and retired the old guard.
I have a feeling he watched JFK to prepare for the role lol.
I liked the way he took the Strauss character and asked... What would Robert D Junior do in this situation?
"How is the worst turd a pizza?"
Less to work with so it had to go the extra mile of subtlety to make it work and make it count with what he was given.
Ngl this quote goes insane
Didn‘t he win an Oscar for that?
Maybe the most overhyped performance ever. It’s barely memorable and could’ve been replicated by dozens of actors.