My Very Hetero-Man Crush of the Week: RDJ

I've been a big fan of Robert Downey, Jr. for years. Before this summer, he was widely known for his drugged up antics more than his great performances, in particular his Oscar nominated role in "Chaplin." He's made some other great films like "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," "Natural Born Killers," and "Zodiac," and even guest starred on "Family Guy" as Lois Griffin's long lost brother Patrick Pewterschmidt. In particular, he was hilarious in "Soapdish," which has to be one of the most underrated comedies of the early 1990's. This summer in his turn as Tony Stark in "Iron Man," he's blasted into the stratosphere and is more than just the creepy mugshot guy who's getting arrested on drug charges every week. "Iron Man" has done for him what "Pirates of the Carribbean" has done for Johnny Depp; it's made the rest of the world take notice of what a lot of us already knew. He's now rumored to be Hugh Hefner's top choice to play him in a biopic on the Playboy mogul's life and times, and with "Iron Man" sure to be headed to the sequel factory soon for more installments, he seems to be getting better with age.

In a lot of his films he does this thing, not many other actors have it, but few get away with it without coming off as playing the same character in every movie they're in. It's that same thing Vince Vaughn has, where he seems like the same guy from film to film in most cases ("Old School," "Dodgeball," "Wedding Crashers") but is still great on screen. He's like Vince Vaughn with slightly better acting chops (see "Chaplin" and "Zodiac") and now, at 43 years old, he's finally getting recognized for what he's been flying under the radar with for all these years. I started watching "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," a recent film he was in pre-Iron Man that I hear is very good, I'm sure it will only increase my respect for this great actor of the past 20 years. His role as an Australian actor who plays a black man in a Vietnam movie within a movie within a movie in "Tropic Thunder," which comes out next week is sure to bring more accolades and comedic acclaim.

Now that his winning "Iron Man" lottery ticket has come to light, he's set to star in some more upcoming high profile films. Guy Ritchie, the director of one of my all time favorite films "Snatch" and of the upcoming "Rocknrolla" (which looks ridiculously amazing) has signed Downey Jr. on to star in an upcoming Sherlock Holmes film. This is not to be confused with the Sherlock Holmes comedy Judd Apatow is devloping with Sasha Baron Cohen as Holmes and Will Ferrell as Watson, though that sounds just as interesting. Another high profile project he's recently been signed for is an adaptation of the graphic novel "Cowboys Vs. Aliens." Judging by the title, I don't think much explanation is needed.

This month, Rolling Stone has a great cover story on RDJ (I'm hoping this acronym catches on like lighters at a Journey concert while they play "Faithfully") that shows just how cool this mofo really is. Though, "The Dark Knight" is still my top choice of the summer, I'm just as glad to see RDJ get his due because it's been a long time coming since he came up in "Weird Science" back in the 80's. To read the Rolling Stone article, click here: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/22210961

For your viewing pleasure, I've included the previously mentioned creepy mugshot here:

And another mugshot...

...and another mugshot...

...And Patrick Pewterschmidt, the "Fat Guy Strangler," before what is sure to be another potential RDJ mugshot.

Cheers to you RDJ! Keep on rocking in the sober world! Keep ping pongin'!