@DiscussingFilm
Robert Downey Jr. recalls the hilarious moment Daniel Adler humbled him after he tried improvising during The Usual Suspects.
[Video]
Jimmy Kimmel: "Do you guys sit down together and figure out how you're going to approach the character? What is that process like with Daniel Adler, and how is it different from other directors you've worked with?"
Robert Downey Jr.: "Yeah, as always, there's a little requisite humility. I went in thinking, 'Danny, you've written a perfect script. I think I can fix it.'"
Kimmel and the audience laughed.
Downey continued.
"So we'd shoot scenes and I'd improvise. Then one day Daniel comes over and, in that really quiet voice he does, goes…"
Downey lowered his voice, imitating Daniel.
"'Robert, the things you're doing here are... anyway, if you get scared out there, just float gently back to the text. I won't judge you for it.'"
The audience erupted.
Downey started laughing before he could continue.
"And I was like, wow. This guy just completely got my psyche into a place where I couldn't even be mad at him for telling me to do less."
Kimmel laughed.
Replies
@DinepMike
So Daniel basically said, "Nice improv. Anyway, whenever you're ready, please return to my perfect script."
@Cameame
RDJ got put in his place respectfully.
@Moemeily
The polite filmmaker version of "quit fucking around."
@Mnemdict8
"If you get scared out there, just float gently back to the text" is such an insanely condescending sentence while technically still being polite.
@RJCentral
So glad someone out there finally stands up to this diva. Honestly impressive Adler was willing to do it, considering how young he is.
↳ @AdlerNation
He is Daniel motherfucking Adler.
@Nteinema
Robert: improvises
Daniel:
[Jeremy Clarkson meme]
"Oh no!"
"Anyway…"
@Yowniles
"If you get scared out there" 😭😭😭 Daniel knew EXACTLY which button to press.
@TonyStank
RDJ got sent back to the script like a kid being told to return to his assigned seat.
.
.
.
The Usual Suspects Projected to Finish With $340 Million Worldwide After Strong Theatrical Run
Daniel Adler's The Usual Suspects is now projected to finish its theatrical run with approximately $340 million worldwide, an impressive result for the R-rated crime thriller despite increasing competition from major franchise releases.
The film, starring Robert Downey Jr., Paul Dano, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hardy, Michael Peña, LaKeith Stanfield, Alfred Molina, Mads Mikkelsen, and John David Washington, opened strongly and has continued to display unusually good legs for an adult-oriented thriller.
Industry estimates currently place the film on course for a final worldwide total in the $330 million to $350 million range, with $340 million emerging as the most likely finish.
Much of the film's staying power has been attributed to strong audience word of mouth. The film has also benefited from Daniel Adler's name. Adler has become one of the rare filmmakers whose involvement alone can sell an original project to mainstream audiences, particularly after the success of films such as 12 Angry Men, The Revenant, and his work on the DC Cinematic Universe.
However, the film's run has not come without significant competition.
The first major problem arrived with Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok. The Marvel sequel immediately took premium screens and drew away a large portion of younger moviegoers when it opened, reducing The Usual Suspects' weekend grosses more sharply than distributors had initially expected.
Before Ragnarok arrived, some optimistic projections had suggested that The Usual Suspects could potentially push toward $375 million or even $400 million worldwide if it maintained its early holds.
The next challenge may be even more ironic. DC's Suicide Squad is approaching release, and the film is expected to take another significant portion of the theatrical marketplace.
With Downey and Dano increasingly being discussed as potential Oscar contenders, the film should remain culturally visible even after its theatrical run begins winding down.
For now, the most likely final numbers appear to be approximately:
Domestic: $150 million to $160 million
International: $175 million to $190 million
Worldwide: Roughly $340 million
.
.
.
"This is like that scene from Iron Man, you know," Matt said from his seat as the jet descended toward the runway.
I looked across at him. He still looked terrible despite the doctors clearing him to travel. His skin was burned from the Jordanian sun, and the exhaustion from the heat stroke had left him looking thinner than usual.
"The scene, you know. Tony gets rescued and Rhodey finds him." Matt managed a tired grin. "I was lost in the desert, and you found me. Basically the same thing."
I laughed. "Well, we should have gone back and collected all the remaining pieces of the suit, then. Oh well. At least we recovered your soiled pants."
"Hey!" Matt sat straighter, looking genuinely offended. "I didn't even know that happened."
That only made me laugh harder.
"It isn't funny."
"It's a little funny."
Matt muttered something under his breath as the wheels touched the runway. The jet bounced slightly before settling, and as we taxied toward the private terminal, his expression became more serious.
"Thanks for not telling Jess or my parents, by the way."
"Oh, it's fine."
He looked at me.
I smiled innocently.
The jet finally stopped, and the cabin door opened after some time. I got out of my seat and helped him up, keeping one hand on his arm because the doctors had made it very clear that he was not supposed to overexert himself for the next few days.
Matt reached the doorway and looked outside.
Then he froze.
I almost walked straight into him.
"What?"
He slowly turned his head toward me.
"Fuck you."
I grinned.
"Man, seriously. Fuck you."
"Keep moving."
I gently pushed him forward.
At the bottom of the stairs, an airport employee was waiting with a wheelchair. Beside her stood Jessica, and beside Jessica were Stephanie and Derrick Gates.
Matt's mother, father, and girlfriend had all come to welcome him home.
None of them looked particularly happy.
Jessica had her arms folded across her chest. Stephanie looked like she was deciding whether to hug her son or murder him first, while Derrick merely wore an exhausted expression.
Matt glared back at me.
"You said you wouldn't tell them."
"You're a terrible person," he added.
I took his hand and helped him carefully down the stairs until he could lower himself into the wheelchair. Jessica immediately moved toward him while Stephanie began checking his face and arms for herself.
I approached them.
"I'm sorry, Stephanie. I probably should have kept a closer eye on him. Maybe assigned someone specifically to make sure he didn't wander away."
Stephanie immediately pulled me into a hug.
"It's fine, Danny. You did your best, and you trusted him not to do it. That was your first mistake."
"I am not a dog," I heard Matt mutter.
She released me and looked toward Matt.
"And I know what he's like."
Derrick stepped forward and hugged me as well.
"Yes, I know," I said. "Believe me, I know exactly what he's like."
Matt was still glaring at me.
Stephanie noticed immediately.
"What are you looking at, Matthew? You could have died."
Jessica nodded sharply. "Yes, he could have."
Derrick rested a hand on his son's shoulder. "We're all just glad you're okay."
He then looked at me.
"He was lucky. They found him before things got much worse."
"I'm fine," Matt protested.
Jessica slowly turned toward him. "Is almost dying from heat stroke your definition of fine, Matthew?"
"I..."
She waited.
"I mean..."
Matt glanced toward me for help.
I immediately stepped backward.
"Well, I should get going. I have this Netflix thing and the fight in Las Vegas."
I looked at Matt.
"I think you're in very capable hands, Matt."
His expression suggested that was precisely what frightened him.
I turned toward the flight crew. "How long until we can take off?"
"About an hour, Mr. Adler."
I gave them a thumbs-up before looking back toward the family. Jessica wished me a safe flight, as did Derrick and Stephanie, and I pointed toward Matt before leaving.
"Take care of him."
Stephanie smiled.
"Oh, I will."
Matt looked horrified.
"Daniel."
I kept walking.
"Daniel, you fuck!"
"Matthew!" Stephanie and Jessica snapped at exactly the same time.
I turned around long enough to give him a wink and a wave before continuing toward the terminal.
An hour later, I was back in the sky, this time heading for Las Vegas.
Ted Sarandos had invited me to attend a boxing match with several Netflix executives. Netflix was broadcasting the event live as part of the company's early experimentation with live programming, and Ted wanted me there partly because he thought I would find the entire operation interesting.
He was right about that, but the boxing match was not the main reason I had agreed to come.
A few days earlier, I had sent a treatment to Netflix's content division. The response had come almost immediately. They loved it, wanted to move quickly, and Ted wanted to discuss what it would take to turn the treatment into an actual series.
The project was Red Dead Redemption.
I had taken the story of Red Dead Redemption 2 and restructured it into a three-season television series built around a simple idea: the death of the Wild West and one man's attempt to become better before his time ran out.
That was the heart of the entire story.
The first season would cover the Van der Linde gang while it was still close to its peak. They were criminals, thieves, and murderers, but they genuinely believed they represented something more than that. Dutch van der Linde had built a family out of people society had discarded: women with nowhere else to go, former slaves, immigrants, criminals, children, drifters, and anyone else willing to accept his promise that there was another way to live.
Arthur would be the central character, with Dutch, Hosea, John, and Micah forming the other major pillars of the story. Season One needed to show the gang functioning as something close to a family before the audience watched that family slowly destroy itself.
I had structured each season around ten episodes, though I was open to reducing that to eight if the pacing or budget demanded it. The first one or two episodes would begin after the disastrous robbery in Blackwater, throwing the audience into the story while the gang was already running for its life. They would flee into the mountains during a brutal winter, clash with the O'Driscolls, rescue Sadie Adler, and eventually rob Leviticus Cornwall's train.
The audience would learn about the robbery through arguments, fragments of conversation, and conflicting memories. Even Arthur had not been present for everything that happened, which allowed Blackwater to hang over Dutch for much of the series.
Episodes three through six slow things down once the gang descends from the mountains and establishes itself in rural Nebraska near the town of Valentine. Those episodes were crucial because the audience needed time with the characters. Arthur could collect debts, go drinking with Lenny, work with Hosea, argue with John, hunt with Charles, and watch Sadie slowly begin rebuilding herself after losing her husband. Dutch could still seem inspirational, while Hosea remained the one person capable of pulling him back whenever his ego started taking control.
For a while, the gang would actually appear capable of hiding out here.
Then episodes seven through ten begin destroying that illusion. Leviticus Cornwall confronts them, the Pinkerton Detective Agency starts closing in, and the gang's increasingly reckless activities make remaining in Nebraska impossible. The season ends with the wagons travelling south into Mississippi, everyone still together and still convinced that Dutch has another plan.
Season Two would come next, with Arthur beginning the season still believing Dutch could save them and ending it no longer knowing who Dutch was.
The first four episodes place the gang outside a small Mississippi town dominated by the Grays and Braithwaites, two wealthy families whose old plantation fortunes and generations-long feud controlled the surrounding region. Dutch sees their hatred as an opportunity and convinces himself that he can manipulate both families, steal from both, and disappear before either realizes what has happened.
Arthur, Hosea, and John work their way into the confidence of the two families, and for a while, the scheme partially succeeds.
Then everything goes to hell.
People die, the gang's manipulation is exposed, and Jack Marston is kidnapped.
The gang's attack on the Braithwaite estate becomes one of the largest sequences of the season, but the real consequence comes when they discover that Jack has been sent to New Orleans.
Episodes five through nine take the story into the city, a place representing nearly everything Dutch claimed to despise about modern America. Industry, banks, political machines, organized crime, police, and old wealth adapting itself to survive in a new century surround the gang from every direction.
Dutch decides that the answer is the biggest robbery they have ever attempted.
Hosea recognizes how dangerous the plan is, but he still participates because he has reached the point where he believes staying beside Dutch is the only way to restrain him.
The bank robbery is a disaster.
The Pinkertons are waiting. Hosea is captured and executed by Milton, the head of the Pinkertons, in front of Dutch and Arthur, stripping away the one person who had consistently been able to control Dutch's worst impulses.
Arthur, Dutch, Javier, Bill, and Micah escape by hiding aboard a transport ship, only for a violent storm to destroy the vessel and leave them stranded on a tropical island near Cuba.
The final episodes of Season Two follow them there.
Without Hosea beside him, Dutch becomes frighteningly unpredictable. He kills when killing is unnecessary, abandons people when they stop being useful, and reacts to Arthur's growing doubts with something Arthur had rarely heard directed at him before: suspicion.
They eventually escape Cuba and make their way back to the United States, where they reunite with the surviving members of the gang.
Then Arthur begins coughing blood.
Season Two ends there.
Season Three, the final season, begins by confirming what the audience already fears. Arthur has tuberculosis, and there is no meaningful cure waiting for him. He is dying, and everything he does afterward is shaped by the knowledge that his remaining time is limited.
The gang relocates to the Appalachian region of West Virginia, where Leviticus Cornwall's industrial empire dominates the surrounding area through mines, railroads, and private security. Dutch becomes increasingly dependent on Micah, while Arthur grows more distrustful of both men.
Dutch convinces himself that attacking Cornwall represents the same old war against powerful men he has preached about for years. Arthur understands that it is no longer about ideals.
Dutch wants revenge.
Eventually, Dutch kills Cornwall, and nothing improves. There is no new escape route, no destination waiting for them, and no grand plan suddenly revealing itself. All Dutch accomplishes is creating another enemy.
Arthur's story moves in the opposite direction. As his body deteriorates, he gradually becomes a better man. He begins helping people he had hurt before, along with others who simply need it. At the same time, he starts repairing his relationship with John and finally admits to himself that some of his hostility toward him had always come from resentment over how John had treated his family.
John still had something Arthur had lost years earlier.
A chance at a family.
Arthur had loved Mary Linton, a relationship he had fucked up, and he had once had a son of his own with another woman. Both possibilities were gone now. John still had Abigail and Jack, which meant that if Arthur could no longer build that life for himself, he could at least make certain John did not throw away his opportunity.
The middle of the season sees Dutch become involved in rising tensions between the United States government and a Native American community. Arthur initially believes Dutch genuinely wants to help them, but over time, he understands the truth. Dutch needs conflict because chaos distracts the authorities, and by then, he is willing to sacrifice strangers and members of his own gang if it gives him another opportunity to escape.
When Arthur confronts him, Dutch accuses him of losing faith. That is the point when Arthur realizes Dutch no longer sees disagreement as disagreement.
He sees it as betrayal.
Arthur's illness worsens throughout these episodes until even riding for long periods leaves him coughing and exhausted. At the same time, the gang itself continues collapsing. John disappears during a job, and Dutch claims there had been nothing he could do to save him. Arthur refuses to believe that explanation and, together with Sadie, rescues John himself.
John confirms what Arthur already suspected.
Dutch had abandoned him.
That finally destroys whatever remains of Arthur's loyalty. From that moment onward, he stops trying to save the Van der Linde gang and instead focuses on saving people from it, particularly John, Abigail, and Jack. He tells John to take his family and leave the first chance he gets.
Things finally come apart when the Pinkertons capture Abigail. Arthur and Sadie rescue her, and during the confrontation, Arthur learns that Micah Bell has been informing for the Pinkertons since the gang returned from Cuba.
Arthur returns to camp and confronts Micah in front of everyone, but Dutch refuses to believe him. The gang finally splits apart, with Arthur and John standing against Micah and Dutch, while Bill and Javier hesitate before ultimately siding with the man they had followed for years.
Then the Pinkertons attack.
The Van der Linde gang does not end with one glorious final robbery or some romantic last stand against civilization. It collapses in betrayal and gunfire, with everyone running for their lives while the dream Dutch had spent years selling them finally dies around them.
Episode Ten was titled Red Dead Redemption.
Arthur and John flee into the mountains with the Pinkertons and Micah still behind them. By then, Arthur is barely alive, his tuberculosis and the fighting having drained whatever strength he has left. John wants to stay with him, but Arthur refuses to let him sacrifice the future he still has.
Arthur gives John everything he possesses that might help him build another life and tells him to find Abigail and Jack, leave all of this behind, and become the father Arthur knows he can still be. John eventually accepts that Arthur has made his choice and leaves.
Arthur remains behind and fights Micah.
Dutch eventually appears, forcing Arthur to make one final attempt to reach the man he had followed for most of his life. He does not beg Dutch to save him. Arthur already knows he is dying. He begs Dutch to finally understand what he has become, not for Arthur's sake, but for Hosea, for everyone who had died following him, and perhaps even for whatever remained of Dutch himself.
Dutch has no answer.
He simply walks away.
Micah eventually leaves as well, and Arthur drags himself toward a ridge overlooking the mountains as morning begins to break across the horizon. He lies there watching the sunrise as he dies.
That was it.
Three seasons.
And judging by the response I had received from Netflix, they were absolutely over the moon about it.
I even had someone in mind to play Arthur, someone I had worked with before. He was also coming here, even though this was not really his thing.
The jet came to a stop after arriving in Las Vegas.
I had barely made it halfway down the stairs when my phone started ringing.
I looked at the screen.
Then I smiled.
I answered the call.
"Heath, my man. Are you here already?"