The first trailer for Robert Downey Jr’s next film, The Judge, was released yesterday. My first thought after watching it was…
Holy sh-t they lit the f-ck out of this movie.
Then I texted Dylan who’s been lighting the f-ck out of our shoots for almost 15 years to ask him to confirm that he was seeing what I was seeing: they lit the f-ck out of this movie. And Dylan agreed – it’s Janusz Kaminski who works on practically all of Steven Spielberg’s films. Kanye West should be hiring him to work on all of his wife’s selfies.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing that all I can think about is the lighting for this trailer? Every scene with RDJ is a lighting masterpiece. Look at him in the bar. Check him out in the courtroom. Team Downey is producing this film. It’s no accident that they’re presenting him in the best possible light. And it’s almost distracting. No, actually, it IS distracting.
Fine. But what about the story? Towards the end, there seems to be some emotional weight when he’s acting opposite Robert Duvall and I hope there’s more of that, because, well, for the first 30 seconds, RDJ is doing familiar smug. In other words, Tony Stark. Or Sherlock Holmes. Or Robert Downey Jr. The Judge opens October 10. That’s award season. And that’s how he wants to spend his non-Marvel time. But I wonder if he’s going to have to show some more, something different, for them to want to give it to him.
