Robert Downey Jr. has spent plenty of time surrounded by glowing walls of green and blue during his decade playing Tony Stark, but it turns out digital environments aren’t what test his acting skills. The MCU vet previously revealed his real challenges during a laid-back interview. The slate of new Marvel movies may be known for their heavy use of CG and on-set reference screens. Yet, the Oppenheimer Oscar winner explained that the most complex parts of acting have nothing to do with pretending an alien army is floating above him.
During the interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, RDJ explained the scenes that give him the most headaches, and they don’t involve green screens. Instead, he was explaining the everyday moments that most actors take for granted. As he put it, these moments expose what he jokingly called his “dirty secret.” Downey said:
My dirty secret is that I’m not all that good… And I’m going to tell you why. There’s things that most people… doesn’t bother them. Like there’s stuff that I bet—look, you’re an actor...
The crowd loved the nod to the Taxi star–turned–late-night host’s acting chops, and Fallon happily took the compliment. “Thank you for saying that,” he said. “I appreciate it.”
The Tropic Thunder scene-stealer went on to explain that, in general, the scenes he struggles with most are the ones built on small, believable reactions. He continued:
Opening doors, pretending you’re surprised to see somebody who’s been standing on the other side of the door waiting for the cue, waiting for you to open the door and pretend you’re surprised to see them… And also, driving a car and doing a bunch of like, ‘Alright now, do this. Do that.’ I hate it.
For someone who led some of the biggest effects-heavy movies ever made, it was a grounded admission. The simple, everyday moments — not the CGI — take the most effort.
Then he pulled Fallon into an impromptu acting exercise. “Let’s go tight on Jimmy,” Downey told the camera crew, slipping into mock-director mode as the band and audience played along. He built a scene on the fly:
There’s a knock at the door, there’s a beautiful girl there waiting for you to open, you thought she was dead… and after you say, whatever, let’s pretend her name is Harmony… then you realize you’re gonna have to kill her. [audience laughs].
In the clip, which you can watch below, the studio audience loses it, as Fallon tries to respond, only to crack up almost immediately. It’s a classic SNL Fallon laughing mid-scene moment and is worth a watch for the laugh alone.
Hearing Downey walk through his least favorite acting tasks puts his Marvel work (streaming with a Disney+ subscription) in a different light. It's interesting to hear he's comfortable reacting to things that aren’t on set at all — Thanos, armor HUDs, a collapsing skyline — but the real challenge for him in movies comes in the small, everyday beats audiences never think about. And, judging by the Tonight Show crowd’s reaction, Robert Downey Jr. knows precisely how to turn those frustrations into a punchline.
And, while he may not face many door-opening or driving moments, he is heading back to the big screen and back to the land of green screens. This time, he’s trading Tony Stark’s armor for Doctor Doom’s mask. Avengers: Doomsday is set to hit theaters amid the 2026 movie schedule on December 18, 2026.
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