Master of disguise
Robert Downey Jr takes versatility to another level in The Sympathizer, writes Siobhan Duck
WITH his ginger curls, bright blue eyes and skin freckled with sun damage, Robert Downey Jr is utterly unrecognisable when he barrels into the opening frames of The Sympathizer.
Downey Jr’s appearance as Claude – an American CIA agent stationed in Vietnam during the war and its aftermath – proves to be the first in his series of impressive transformations in this new series based on the 2016 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen.
By the time the final credits roll on the seven-episode series, Downey Jr will also appear as three more nameless (yet memorable) characters: an ageing conservative congressman, a bald intellectual and an egotistical filmmaker.
The HBO series offers a unique perspective of the Vietnam War as told through the eyes of a half-French, half-Vietnamese soldier called The Captain (played by Australian actor Hoa Xuande).
Early on, an undercover Claude tells The Captain he “will be whoever I need to be” to get the job done for the CIA. Little does he know, the person he’s speaking to is a North Vietnamese double agent who is posing as a South Vietnamese soldier.
The Sympathizeris just the latest in a long line of projects that allow Downey Jr to make the best of his chameleon credentials, as showcased by these other starring roles:
Oppenheimer (Binge)
Christopher Nolan’s three-hour 2023 film about the creation of the atomic bomb cleaned up at this year’s Academy Awards. Downey Jr’s performance as Lewis Strauss won him the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
Ally McBeal (Disney+)
Downey Jr’s arrival as series star Calista Flockhart’s love interest, smooth-talking lawyer Larry Paul, in 2000 brought audiences (and critics) back to the comedy series in its fourth season and netted him a Golden Globe.
Tropic Thunder (Paramount+)
While Ben Stiller-helmed comedies aren’t generally considered Oscar bait, this 2008 film earnt Downey Jr a second nod (his first being for Chaplin) as a white Australian actor playing an African American soldier in a film about the Vietnam War.
Iron Man (Disney+)
It’s now hard to imagine anyone except Downey Jr playing the quick-witted billionaire Tony Stark, but Marvel Studios was initially reluctant to cast him. Director Jon Favreau championed the actor until the studio caved, launching the start of a cinematic juggernaut in 2008. Downey Jr would go on to play the flawed superhero in nine more films, culminating in 2019’s
Avengers: Endgame.
THE SYMPATHIZER
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