Robert Downey Jr. Calls Timothée Chalamet’s ‘Marty Supreme’ Turn “A Generation-Defining Performance” in “A Decade-Defining Film”

At this time two years ago, Robert Downey Jr. was in the midst of the awards season that ultimately resulted in him winning an Oscar for his performance in Oppenheimer. He was 58. But 31 years earlier, at 27, he was Oscar-nominated for the first time, for Chaplinmaking him one of the youngest-ever best actor nominees up to that point. And, he told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday night, he will “never, ever, ever forget” what it meant to him when some older people in the business whom he admired — including Warren Beatty and Anthony Hopkins — publicly championed him.

That’s part of why a few days ago, after watching and being blown away by Josh Safdie‘s Marty Supremeand particularly by the lead performance of Timothée Chalamethe reached out via Facetime to the 30-year-old actor, whom he did not know personally, to share his feelings, and to offer to moderate a Q&A to further call attention to a performance that he told THR he regards as “one of those rare, rare occurrences, like a double-eclipse or something, one of those things that is so uncommon when it happens, let alone to someone who’s so young.”

That’s what brought Downey and Chalamet together on Wednesday night at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood, first in a green room for an exclusive conversation with THRand then in front of a theater filled to capacity with 600 Academy, BAFTA and guild members — plus additional attendees watching in an adjacent theater via a live-stream — for a rollicking back-and-forth during which Downey declared, “To me, this is a decade-defining film, and I think it is a generation-defining performance.”

Earlier, in the green room, Downey explained, “This is a movie that is going to be remembered for a long time. I was watching the 1975 documentary from Morgan Nevillewhich really talks about that year, when movies were great. And I think there’s a possibility for things to go — not back, but to go forward, in a way that reflects what cinema is capable of. So when you see it, I think you need to plant a flag and say, ‘This matters.'”

Chalamet said of Downey’s support, “I’m so grateful. And it happened totally organically, and by organically, I mean, out of the blue.” He added that he has long regarded Downey as a role model: “He’s had the dream career I wish to have, as far as being a real box-office presence — numbers don’t lie — but equally, across his entire career, from Chaplin that Oppenheimervery respected. I have huge admiration and respect for him.”

Later, on stage, after introducing Chalamet to a standing ovation and describing Marty Supreme as “a real piece of art,” Downey said to Chalamet, “I’m flashing back to when you were 22, with Call Me by Your Nameand then to just a year or two ago, with A Complete Unknownand I go, ‘My God, this guy is technically so evolved.’ And then I see this movie and I go, ‘Oh, and now there’s this other thing!’ Which is such a specificity of showing the psychic life of the character, building him from the inside-out and the outside-in. It’s just an astonishing achievement, dude.”

Chalamet expressed gratitude and then flipped the script on Downey, stating that Downey’s performance in Chaplin had been a big inspiration for his own performance in A Complete Unknown: “Chaplinbefore A Complete Unknownwas one of the things I looked at and went, ‘Wow, OK, somebody as recognizable as Robert Downey Jr. shape-shifted into another very well-known figure,’ and it gave me confidence in approaching the Bob Dylan role.”

Chalamet also deferred much of the credit for him Marty Supreme performance to Safdie. “Josh is just a master,” he said, prompting Downey to interject, “I was thinking that you and Josh could have one of those ongoing relationships where you guys keep choosing to be the ones who can get these very specific, very evolved, very important films made.” Chalamet nodded, “Hey man, from your lips to his ears, because I couldn’t agree more. At this point, he’s making a movie every six years — Uncut Gems came out in 2019 — but I do feel like Josh is a genius in his own right, and we sort of enabled something in each other, so I would love to do it again.”

At the end of the night, in front of hundreds of attendees, Downey told Chalamet, “I’m literally twice your age. When I was 30, I was making a movie with Norman Jewison, Only Youwith Marisa Tomei. And I go to Norman — who made Moonstruck and all these great films — and said, ‘Norman, I feel like I’m one of the greats! I want you to tell me if you agree with that.’ And he looked at me like I was nuts. He said, ‘Well, Mr. Downey, that remains to be seen.’ And I want to say, in front of God and everyone in this audience here, that for you, as of Marty Supremeit no longer remains to be seen.”