October 25, 2024, published at 5:15 PM ET
Robert Downey Jr. is said to have been a “mess” after his long-awaited Broadway debut in McNeal turned into a surprise disaster.
Sources close to the Academy Award winner say he is struggling to cope with negative reviews for his new play, which has now cast a shadow over his career, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
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Insiders claimed: “Robert has made a bold leap from dominating the silver screen to trying his luck on stage. But the brutal reviews have destroyed him.”
“He poured his heart into the project, only to have it bomb – it was a blow to his ego!”
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Another source claimed that once the show ends, “he won’t set foot on a theater stage again.”
Downey’s Broadway debut comes just months after the actor took home his first Oscar for his best supporting role in Oppenheimer earlier this year.
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His new play, by Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar, premiered at the Lincoln Center Theater on September 30.
It focuses on Downey’s character Jacob McNeal, an acclaimed novelist whose battle with alcoholism and mental illness reaches a breaking point at a pivotal moment in his career.
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Although the play has attracted attention for its exploration of the complicated implications of artificial intelligence, the one-act show received unglamorous reviews.
Variety labeled Downey’s debut “old and confusing”, while The New York Post called the “terrible” production a “total destruction”.
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Other publications called the show a “mixed bag of insight and exhaustion” coupled with “flat characters”.
The play will run for a limited time and is currently scheduled to close on November 24.
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Downey previously shared an Instagram video to capture McNeal’s opening night, showing the actor in his dressing room as he made himself a cup of coffee and walked to the stage in front of the doors.
The Iron man The star took a moment to look at the empty house before thousands of theatergoers took their seats.
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In an interview just days before the play’s opening, Downey told Broadway.com that switching from screen to stage felt “unnaturally natural.”
He added: “I can bring all the experience I’ve had in other media to here.”
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Downey noted that he didn’t even get through the first reading of the script before deciding to take on the project.
He said: “When that happens, there is no ‘Why’ – because I feel like this is a gift.”
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The actor last appeared on stage about 41 years ago in a failed musical called American passionwhich opened and closed on the same day at the Joyce Theater in downtown NYC.
About why he decided to return to the theater, the actor told Fashion: “New play, current subject, great integrity, great committed people, Bart, the cast.”
Downey also said it was “great to be back” in New York City and that his goal is to “never miss a show.”
He joked: “My intention is to be the first on the scene at every damn gig.”
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