Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Robert Downey Jr./archive1: Difference between revisions

Robert Downey Jr. (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

As of 16 December 2025, 06:04 (UTC), this page is active and open for discussion. An FAC coordinator will be responsible for closing the nomination.

Nominator(s): 750h+ 17:08, 27 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This article is about the wonderful RDJ. He has gained critical acclaim for his roles across a versatile range of films. His meteoric comeback as Iron Man following a series of drug related issues has contributed to his status as one of the most well known actors of the 21st century, and I am excited to present this article to you all. Enjoy the read, and all comments are welcomed. If successful this will be my fourteenth FA. 750h+ 17:08, 27 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Lead

• All fine here except for that Known for portraying charismatic and intelligent characters over a versatile range of films,… sounds more British than American.

Early life and acting background

• Link “addiction” and “marijuana”?
• “Aged eleven and twelve” → “At ages eleven and twelve.”
  • The present one sounds more typical of British English.

MSincccc (talk) 18:13, 27 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Personal life

• In the image caption alt text: “wift Susan” → “wife Susan”.

Artistry and public image

• Early in his career, a Rolling Stone writer…
• Stephen Schiff wrote…
  • You could mention “of Vanity Fair”.

MSincccc (talk) 19:00, 27 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@MSincccc: thanks for these! I think i’ve addressed them 750h+ 15:48, 28 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@750h+: Thank you for your cooperation. A few more below:

Acting credits and accolades

Other ventures

• “On November 23, 2004, he released his only studio album, titled The Futurist.” → “On November 23, 2004, he released his only studio album, The Futurist.”
• “Downey has repeatedly collaborated with English musician Sting.” → “Downey has repeatedly collaborated with the English musician Sting.”
  • Since you mention “English” rather than just “musician”. When you add a descriptive adjective such as “English”, the phrase behaves more like a specific identification.
• “jazz pop” → “jazz-pop”
  • Hyphenation is more standard (not obligatory).
• In a 2008 interview,…
  • You could consider mentioning who or which organisation conducted the interview.
• “to promote” → “promoting”
• “I have a really interesting political point of view, and it’s not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can’t go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. […] [I]t was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics ever since”.
  • Is this entire quote necessary to the prose?
• You could consider linking the Democratic Party and Nanotechnology.
  • Democratic party in already linked

MSincccc (talk) 17:35, 28 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Career

(1983–1995) Early work and critical acclaim

• “In 1985, Downey joined the new, younger cast of Saturday Night Live” → “In 1985, Downey joined the new, younger cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL)”
  • SNL doesn’t need to be acronymized as it isn’t said later in the text
• You could link to the articles on promiscuity and teen drama
• Link Oliver Stone?

MSincccc (talk) 07:00, 29 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(1996–2001) Addiction-related setbacks and Ally McBeal

• You could link to the article Ally McBeal season 4 in this sentence: Before the end of his first season on Ally McBeal,…

MSincccc (talk) 17:15, 29 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(2001–2007) Recovery and comeback

• “…a candid account his life and career.”

→ “…a candid account of his life and career.”

(2008–2019) Stardom with Iron Man

• You could link to the article San Francisco Chronicle in the sentence: portraying San Francisco Chronicle journalist Paul Avery, who covered the Zodiac Killer case.
• You could consider explaining briefly what a “Tesseract” is to the general audience.
• “In a December 2000,” → should be “In December 2000,”
  • The article “a” is incorrect with a month + year.
• “…making it fifth-highest-grossing film of all time…”

→ “making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time”

• American English prefers “cesarean section” (no “ae”).

(2020–present) Oppenheimer and expansion

• “an Primetime Emmy nomination” → “a Primetime Emmy nomination”

@750h+: That’s all from me. I look forward to your response. MSincccc (talk) 03:11, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@MSincccc: thanks for all the comments, all should be addressed (unless i left a comment). 750h+ 09:23, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Bottom line

• “Rotten Tomatoes” and “teen drama” were still unlinked in the prose (did that myself).
• Overall, the article reads well and meets the prose standards. Hence support.

MSincccc (talk) 11:35, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Lead

• “over a versatile range of films” is a bit awkward. Would be better as “over a diverse range of films”.

Early life and acting background

• “and Greenwich Village.” -> “and Greenwich Village in New York City.”
• Source 8, “Actor’s toughest role” gives me a 502 bad gateway error.

Career

• “Downey committed to appear in at least eight additional episodes of Ally McBeal.” What is meant by “at least”? Is the exact number of episodes not known?
  • This means he committed to doing this (likely as per a contract), but as stated later, the producers cancelled him from the show soon after
• Source 78, “Robert Downey Jr.’s Drug ‘Deal'” gives me a page not found error. URL status should be set to dead.

@Steelkamp: thoughts? 750h+ 15:52, 28 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Steelkamp: do you plan to continue? no rush. 750h+ 11:45, 10 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I have been lazy. I will continue on the weekend. Steelkamp (talk) 15:28, 11 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• “a professional dancer who poses as the soulmate Tomei’s character Faith.” -> “a professional dancer who poses as the soulmate for Tomei’s character Faith.”
• “A month later, while on parole and under the influence of a controlled substance”. Was he really on parole here? if its a month later, it sounds more like bail.
• I think it should be mentioned that he plead no contest in September 1996. Here’s a source: [1].
• “while a The Age writer deemed it a “terrific comic performance”.” -> “while a writer for The Age deemed it a “terrific comic performance”.” This flows better.
• “The film, the second produced by Team Downey”. What was the first?

Oppose from looking at Robert Downey Jr.#Artistry and public image onwards:

• and has become one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. All the sources are from 10-15 years ago. The fact they all appear in close succession and not after that should indicate whether MOS:DATED applies.
  • All sources are newer.
    • I don’t think any of these sources work:
      • The first is a fluffy republication from news.com.au, which is a News Corp outlet that has received a mixed reception at WP:RSN. Published before the flop of Doolittle, and hardly a HQRS.
      • A listicle from the Independent, says he went from his low point to being the most bankable, but does not speak to his current status. I understand that seems strict, but if I were writing this article I would not consider it adequate.
      • Same with the Vanity Fair piece, which merely describes him becoming bankable around the Iron Man era.
        • Can’t find too many sources, so I’ve removed “bankable” entirely. Plus I think him being the highest-paid actor from 2013-2015 as well as being one of the highest-grossing actors ever does the job of explaining his success.
• Downey is a self-described “incredibly gifted faker” who knows “very little about acting”. We are putting in wikivoice that he is indeed an “incredibly gifted faker” and that he knows “very little about acting”. RDJ is not an unbiased, credible source in such matters, and these claims should not be in wikivoice; you implicitly contradict them in the next sentences.
  • “is a” ==> “has described himself as an”
• “He extensively rehearses and prepares for his film roles” is in no way verified by the source, which is a quote from Downey how 35 years ago he prepared intensely for one role, and is not verified by a short tangent by McBride when he says “Oh shit, I can hear what he’s saying,'” McBride said. “He was talking to people, and he was in character the whole time. And then I even watched him walk back to his trailer and saw it from down there, and he was talking to himself.” McBride said he heard Downey Jr. saying in character: “I’m gonna go drain the snake.””
  • I’ve rewritten this
    • I still take issue with the sourcing for the Tropic Thunder claims. A humorous anecdote from Danny McBride in a light GQ interview, relayed by Yahoo! Entertainment is not a HQRS or really due.
      • replaced with more reliable sources
        • I’m still not particularly pleased with the contents of these verifying “His preparation for specific roles has included… character immersion” when it is ambiguous whether this is all a joke and the provenance, but that probably goes into the territory of me being unfair.
• “Keith Gordon, who directed Downey in The Singing Detective (2003), remarked…” hardly an independent, dispassionate comment to be quoting when it was made during the press cycle for the film.
  • I don’t see too much of a probelm with this?
    • Director praising lead actor during a period while he is promoting the film is highly unlikely to be due.
      • Makes sense, I’ve removed this
• “In a 2010 Rolling Stone article, Walter Kirn praised his ability to “refuse to follow any kind of script, never quite coming into focus, always in thrall to another idea”” again more inappropriate wikivoice. What we are saying here is that RDJ “refuses to follow any kind of script, never quite coming into focus, always in thrall to another idea”, and that he received praise from Kirn for this.
  • “praised” ==> “noted”
    • MOS:SAID
      • Changing to analyzed has meant “essence of his mind and spirit, and, arguably, of his genius as an actor” is not in wikivoice, but we are still putting in wikivoice that [Robert Downey Jr. has an ability to] “refuse to follow any kind of script, never quite coming into focus, always in thrall to another idea”. This is an opinion of Downey’s acting, falling under WP:NPOV‘s requirement to “avoid stating opinions as facts”. Rollinginhisgrave (talk | edits) 16:03, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Rollinginhisgrave: okay, with the current version, I’ve tried to make sure that all quote is stated as opinion rather than fact, attributed to Kirn entirely. What do we think? 750h+ 16:11, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, looks better than it was. Rollinginhisgrave (talk | edits) 16:23, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• Trying to verify “Grzymkowski 2011, p. 277.”, I see this book only has 245 pages in the edition linked.
  • I changed the source entirely, the book was kind of annoying me
    • This is a small thing, but it is still there as [252]
• “honoring his talent as an actor and career resurgence as Iron Man” the profile is written by his buddy, we can’t say this stuff in wikivoice
  • Hopefully this is more neutral
    • Don’t see why we care about Ben Stiller’s opinion. “Friend thinks it’s good that friend has had a career resurgence”.
• “the forty-fourth-greatest actor of the 21st century” film actor.
  • added
    • ? Still there on my screen.
• “According to Rotten Tomatoes, Downey’s most critically acclaimed films include Tropic Thunder, Oppenheimer, the Sherlock Holmes film series” ??? Sorted by critics highest, his most critically acclaimed films on RT are “Sr.”, True Believer, Richard III, Short Cuts, and Avengers: Endgame. Many of these films had Downey in leading roles.
  • Don’t really know how that happened (must not have been looking from most high to least high), anyways I’ve fixed this.

Rollinginhisgrave (talk | edits) 13:53, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Rollinginhisgrave: I think a lot of these are really small problems, so hopefully I can get you to reconsider the oppose (I’ll address these in a bit). 750h+ 14:58, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Always willing to reconsider an oppose, although I obviously disagree with the assessment that many of these are really small. Rollinginhisgrave (talk | edits) 14:59, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Rollinginhisgrave: what are your thoughts? Hopefully most of these are fixed. 750h+ 15:24, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Rollinginhisgrave: second wave of comments addressed. 750h+ 15:57, 30 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]