Best Supporting Actor 2023: Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer

Robert Downey Jr. won his Oscar from his third Oscar nomination for portraying Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer.
 

Sometimes it is all in the casting, or at the very least casting can provide an immediate shorthand if not innate dynamic which the audience can identify within a certain actor. And Robert Downey Jr., who was featured little in much of the promotional material for the film, has the second most screen-time out of any actor in the film, providing a deuteragonist which allows for the one firm alternative perspective from J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy)'s own personal perspective. And what is the most familiar presence that Downey is known for general audiences at this point? Well likely Doctor Dolittle, but more likely I suppose, is Tony Stark aka Iron Man of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And who is Tony Stark, an arrogant, but also goodhearted genius who is a hero through and through. And that is where Christopher Nolan utilizes the outset of Lewis Strauss by placing Downey in this role. As we open the film with Strauss as a nominee under President Eisenhower for secretary of commerce, Downey comes into the film with a very specific choice in the amount of charisma he uses to realize Strauss. Downey of course has charisma to spare, being of the most charismatic actors on and off screen currently, so what we have here is a purposeful regulation of that to be more fitting to who Strauss is as a person. That isn't to say Downey rids himself of that charisma, in fact he uses just enough of it to immediately disarm you about Strauss in the opening scenes of the film, that he makes Strauss seem likeable enough. There's a slight seeming self-effacing quality as he talks to his aide (Alden Ehrenreich) about his relationship with Oppenheimer as just a professional relationship any other, if not even some sense of pride in the association before we flashback. 

The first flashback between Strauss and Oppenheimer is key to the film but especially essential to Downey's performance as Strauss, where Strauss is attempting to get Oppenheimer to take a position at Princeton. And the first scene is where Downey is creating the man we see and the man we come to know. A scene where every interaction is of Strauss attempting overt cordiality to get Oppenheimer into the position and seemingly every response by Oppenheimer being some slight rejection or accidental insult to Strauss. And Downey on the surface is putting on the reduced though still very present charm with every delivery being an invitation for good feeling towards Oppenheimer, which is somehow dashed each time. And in every statement that Downey makes is eager and wanting to make a connection overtly, there is more going on with his performance that will establish what will in fact be the real relationship between the two. And Downey's fantastic in this way he begins very subtly in the dismay of this as even his correction of Oppenheimer's mispronunciation of his name there's just a hint of annoyance as is his correction that he is also Jewish regardless of pronunciation. His moment of needing to state his lack of being a physicist and a self made man with a little more internalized frustration. And the moment where they do seem to make a connection about Einstein's Theory of Relativity, there's a genuine smile on Downey's face before allowing a modest remark of choosing to sell shoes instead of training in physics. But the biggest blow then is Oppenheimer's response to call Strauss a "Lowly shoes salesman", though in fact probably a statement of admiration in a way, Downey's delivery and reaction of "just a shoes salesman" speaks volumes of the very real dismay at the comment. Only for one more insult as he still puts on a smile as the prospect of getting to introduce Oppenheimer to Einstein, only for one more blow as Oppenheimer bluntly states he has already known Einstein for years, and Downey's glare at the two meetings without his intercession shows the real seeds of bitterness quietly. But overtly Downey just shows a more general frustration of a man just hoping to get Oppenheimer to work with him. A brilliantly acted sequence by Downey because he manages to give it all away about Strauss in the margins, while not overtly giving any of it away.

Chronologically the next we see Strauss and Oppenheimer together are as members of the Atomic Energy Commission, of which Strauss was chair and Oppenheimer a key member. And there are two key scenes, the first seemingly a small but important one in a hearing where Oppenheimer again humiliates, perhaps more intentionally though perhaps not as maliciously as Strauss believes, Strauss by showing his expertise over Strauss on isotopes, and again Downey plays two shades at the same time, one being just the gentle modest smile of man accepting a hit, and the eyes where a hostility is ever growing. The second scene is more fundamental where we see a group meeting between the members over the discovery of the Soviets having successfully tested their own Atomic bomb, therefore leading to both questions about security on the creation of the original bomb and the potential of creating the Hydrogen bomb. And Downey's great in the scene by again playing two sides but playing two different sides in this instance. On one end he's bringing the passion of a potential lead of a different film, that Strauss might've written himself, as a man intensely dismayed at this outcome with a real fervour in his voice to make sure his country's safety is secured. His eyes convey a man with this belief and determination of someone who is ready to do what it takes in doing what he believes is the right thing for his country. BUT, Downey also accentuates parts of lines that skew towards some pettiness towards Oppenheimer, some direct passive aggressive emotion, not overtly but part of it. And within his delivering creating the moments not just of disagreement over policy but directed anger towards the man. Downey creates the duality effectively of just the man perhaps concerned genuinely for what this development is, and the man who just hates the man who seems to belittle him at every turn, even if largely unintentionally. 

The framing device of Strauss follows his testimony before Congress for his potential appointment and we see the phases of essentially what Strauss presents to the public. And Downey initially again seems humble, funny even in his way of being more than willingly to accept merely knowing the great man of Oppenheimer, speaking about this relationship with almost shades of nostalgia. When questions continue over his potential part with the security clearance inquiry for Oppenheimer, Downey plays just this befuddlement of any idea that he could have anything to do with it. Presenting as the trustworthy Downey one would expect from the day of Tony Stark, even his way of saying "he's easy to blame" is just waiting for someone to say "no you're not". Downey though shows the facade slowly breaking first in his idea of saying he fought Oppenheimer and "the US won" though this as just an imagined almost playful idea. But again Downey again alludes to a break as he comments on who the scientist who might be testifying on the matter of Oppenheimer may be, as first asking if Chicago, again as just curiosity seemingly sincere just to find out, but then proceeds to mention Los Alamos, Downey again is doing clever way of just barely holding the bile in as he notes those scientists to be in the "cult" of Oppenheimer, but just a little bit at the end of the sentence. And through this though is revealing in plain sight that Strauss has always been the man who undermined Oppenheimer, something I knew before going into the film, but still found it wonderful how Nolan utilized the presence of Downey to craft this twist. And it isn't just presence, though it starts there and Downey knows how to use it to create the wool to blind you into believing Strauss as the innocent man of circumstance, but also how Downey blend that with the real truth of the man throughout the film. 

 

Downey creates the effective double meanings to every action of Strauss between the phony surface and the real. A fantastic moment in this regard when Strauss is revealing to an already down Oppenheimer that one of his scientists was a soviet spy. Downey puts on the perfect face of a phony sympathy while in his eyes loving every minute of the humiliation of the man, and just holding back the slightest smile that he just barely keeps inside. And when we see the truth of the man orchestrating this attack on Oppenheimer, Downey shifts completely to the master politician in his performance, detecting every movement as the master tactician with an ease of every manipulative suggestion and a determination of a different kind. No longer the man who is confused by the accusations or humbled by his connections, but we see the true ego of the man displayed with an intensity in his vindictiveness in every decree. But the other true side of the man we see even more bluntly as it is clear that his nomination will not come easily or at all, and Downey explodes in a moment his performance has been leading to throughout the entire film through every single instance of the quiet bitterness and the hints of pettiness that come to a climax. It all comes out in his portrayal of anger, which is outstanding work by Downey. The reason it is great is because Downey isn't conveying a single type of outrage at Oppenheimer. There's self-righteousness as he denounces Oppenheimer's moral faults surrounding the bomb, there's jealousy in every word as he mimics Oppenheimer's words as false, there's personal bitterness as he so venomously notes that Oppenheimer turned the science community against him, but most of all it is a near petulant manner of the most fragile yet oversized egos in his nearly breaking voice. Where Downey speaks the heart of all of it, is just feeling slighted and never being able to be the "great man" so many viewed Oppenheimer as having been, as he speaks it with indignation but also a sad resignation all the same. Downey delivers one of his best performances. It goes beyond a return to being more than Tony Stark for him once again, as the measured restraint he utilizes properly builds towards this most explosive finale (no pun intended). Crafting a dynamic unwinding of a parallel portrait for Oppenheimer of a man not haunted by his ambition as the titular man, but rather haunted by his failure to coexist with such a man.