Christopher Nolan Fully Believes That Robert Downey Jr. As Iron Man Is The ‘Most Significant’ Casting In ‘Hollywood History’

Christopher Nolan has nothing but praise for Robert Downey Jr.‘s meteoric rises as Iron Man. For a moment, the two were on opposite sides of the fence as Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy proved to be a formidable (and possibly only opponent) to the burgeoning Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, the star and director are close collaborators after working together on the critically acclaimed Oppenheimer.

While talking to The New York Times, Nolan once again let down his cinephile guard and gushed about Downey’s prominent and wildly lucrative tenure as Tony Stark. The iconic director also took things even further by bucking the normal trend of esteemed filmmakers crapping all over the MCU. Instead, Nolan credited the franchise for keeping theaters open:

I think Jon Favreau casting Robert as Tony Stark is one of the most significant and consequential casting decisions in Hollywood history. It wound up defining our industry. Coming out of Covid, you say, “Thank God for Marvel movies.” And it’s one of those where, in retrospect, everybody thinks it was obvious. But he took an enormous risk casting you in that role.

In another candid moment, Nolan also addressed Downey’s recent revelation that the actor met with the director for a role in Batman Begins. Downey was hoping to land the role of Scarecrow, which went to his Oppenheimer co-star Cillian Murphy. Nolan confessed that he had no intention of casting Downey, but was extremely eager to meet the actor even before he became Tony Stark.

“I was a huge admirer of yours and therefore selfishly just wanted to take the meeting,” Nolan said. “But I was also a little afraid of you, you know. I had heard all kinds of stories about how you were crazy. It was only a few years after the last of those stories that had come out about you.”