LOS ANGELES — Robert Downey Jr. is aware of he has amassed a powerful assortment of classic cars — one he self-deprecatingly refers to as artifacts of his success.
Regardless of his expectations of what the “accouterments are speculated to be” when one reaches a sure degree of fame and wealth, trophies, it seems for the actor, will not be all they’re cracked as much as be. It is that dissatisfaction that helped to encourage “Downey’s Dream Automobiles,” his newest challenge debuting Thursday on Max.
“The money and prizes, it’s by no means been what motivated me. So, I shouldn’t be shocked that it’s nonetheless not,” Downey mentioned on the present’s premiere, held final week on the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
Whereas “Downey’s Dream Automobiles” may be very a lot a present for gearheads, it is not restricted to that viewers. Downey experiments with style in a sort of eco-friendly “Pimp My Experience” that can be half memoir and a documentary concerning the newest developments in clear know-how.
“That was actually the thought, was to attempt to innovate somewhat bit in this type of storytelling,” he mentioned.
In every episode, Downey relinquishes management of his prized possessions, letting consultants modify his basic vehicles to be extra environmentally sustainable by making them electrical, changing them to run on biodiesel gas and even affixing them with mushroom leather-based. Downey hopes it is going to be a glimpse into the way forward for sustainability and espouses optimism by that includes what’s attainable now in addition to what technological progress guarantees.
It’s certainly a present about cars and technology, however in it Downey conveys a shocking quantity of tenderness and introspection. It is a window into the methods he is grown from very public struggles with drug dependancy that knowledgeable his picture for years earlier than “Iron Man” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe got here calling.
He reveals a self-awareness of the “machismo” cinematic influences and capitalistic values that prompted him to construct such a set. All through the present, Downey weaves in reflections on his life, household and shifting priories lately, particularly as they relate to the way forward for the planet.
Susan Downey, a producer who regularly collaborates together with her husband, shares his dedication to environmental activism and labored as an government producer for the present.
Though she mentioned they each really feel a private duty within the battle towards climate change, she praised her husband for his efforts to carry companies accountable.
“It’s to not absolve the on a regular basis individual of any duty they’ve, however actually recognizing, to make the numerous adjustments, they must function at a a lot increased degree,” she mentioned.
The actor has lately turn out to be extensively associated with his activism, significantly after he based FootPrint Coalition, a enterprise capital fund that invests in local weather know-how and synthetic intelligence.
Within the collection, Downey bemoans society’s inefficiency and lack of collective will in making progress on these fronts, a frustration that contributed to his selections to create each the corporate and the collection.
And regardless of many individuals’s issues over the uncharted territory AI has already traversed, Downey believes in its potential to battle local weather change and suspects fears of its capabilities could also be to some extent unwarranted.
“Any time there’s been an actual rising know-how that was in all probability going to be important, there’s all the time a effectively of worry and hope,” he mentioned, arguing that each should be tempered even when he does assume it may be used for good. “I’m not fearful about it, however it’s one thing I feel we must always have correct pointers for.”
