It’s been a little over a decade since we’ve seen Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Dazed and Confused) and Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) work together. It was in 2006 while adapting Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly that the two first collaborated, and soon we will likely be seeing reunion. Downey Jr. looks to star in Linklater’s upcoming, and currently untitled, film centered around a con artist.
The film is going to be built from an episode from Gimlet Media’s Reply All podcast, entitled Man of the People. Said episode tells the story of Dr. John R. Brinkley, who gained wealth and fame by transplanting goat testicles into human males to cure impotence. Based on that sentence alone it’s clear to see that Brinkley was a fraud. He purchased his qualifications from a diploma mill and gained notoriety through his radio persona. He was so clever and beloved by the people he reached over the airwaves that he was able to maintain this heinous line of work for nearly twenty years. Having a man who’s arguably the most charismatic actor in Hollywood portraying the charlatan behind such a bizarre story should make for an excellent movie.
For further curiosity sake, filmmaker Penny Lane recently made a documentary chronicling Brinkley, a film entitled Nuts.
Downey Jr. has spent most of his on-screen time portraying Marvel fixture Tony Stark, most recently in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and last summer’s Captain America: Civil War. He is currently filming Avengers: Infinity War and will have a role in this summer’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. He last portrayed a non-superhero role in the Oscar nominated 2014 drama The Judge.
Linklater, who earned Oscar nominations for directing and scripting the 2014 coming-of-age saga Boyhood, last year debuted Everybody Wants Some!! and recently wrapped Last Flag Flying, a title featuring Bryan Cranstan and Laurence Fishburne. Linklater is also attached to Where’d You Go, Bernadette, which may star Cate Blanchett.
We shall stay tuned to the latest developments.
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