Sylvester Stallone Robbed Us of Robert Downey Jr as Edgar Poe (But Regretted It)
Robert Downey Jr's "dark period" could have ended sooner if Sylvester Stallone had given him that chance.
One of the first scripts that the young Sylvester Stallone took on was an unrealized biopic about the dark literary classic Edgar Allan Poe.
As in the case of the Oscar-winning Rocky, the actor wrote this story for himself with the intention of later playing the role of a famous writer, but in the end he realized that he did not fit into the image at all.
And all we have left is a single photo of Sly in a top hat.
Nevertheless, even after so many years, Stallone does not give up hope of putting an end to the matter.
The first candidate for the role of the great writer was Robert Downey Jr who, at the time of his consideration by Stallone, had not yet starred in Iron Man and was not a world-class star.
However, Sylvester abandoned the idea due to the actor's reputation at the time, which, according to Stallone, could harm the success of the movie.
The beginning of Robert's career was quite successful, but (almost) everything was destroyed by drug addiction.
Since 1996, Downey Jr would regularly get arrested for drug possession, was placed on probation, and tested for illegal drugs. However, he violated the terms of his release and missed tests.
As a result, he was sent to a Los Angeles jail for six months. After his release, he managed to get noticed on the legal drama Ally McBeal.
This one brought him a personal Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination. But it was not easy to give up old habits: in the early 2000s, he was arrested many more times, and the courts sentenced him to new terms of imprisonment.
Although he did not go to jail, he was fired from the show.
Such behavior could not but affect his career, and he would receive fewer and fewer offers. But his past was completely forgotten after Iron Man, critics rightly noted that the movie's success was not least due to Robert Downey Jr's acting.
After the worldwide success, Downey Jr mentioned the Stallone biopic, and apparently even hinted he was not against playing the lead role in it.
But even though Stallone still seems to be enthusiastic about the idea, Robert himself is probably no longer the right person to portray Edgar Allan Poe.
The author died at the age of 39, and Downey Jr might just be too old for the role. But fans are still hoping to see a biopic of the great and terrible Poe by Sylvester Stallone.