{"id":57340,"date":"2024-10-21T09:46:42","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T13:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/?p=57340"},"modified":"2024-10-21T09:46:42","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T13:46:42","slug":"robert-downey-jr-shattered-after-poor-reviews-for-broadway-debut-in-mcneal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/robert-downey-jr-shattered-after-poor-reviews-for-broadway-debut-in-mcneal\/57340\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Downey Jr. \u2018Shattered\u2019 After poor reviews for Broadway debut in McNeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Downey Jr.\u2019s highly anticipated Broadway debut in <\/span>McNeal<\/span><\/i> has not lived up to the actor\u2019s expectations, as negative reviews have reportedly left the Oscar-nominated star \u201cshattered.\u201d Downey, 59, took on the challenging title role in Ayad Akhtar\u2019s latest play, currently running at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York City. The role sees Downey portraying an acclaimed novelist whose life spirals due to alcoholism and mental illness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert Downey Jr. disappointed with the response:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Despite his previous successes on the silver screen, Downey\u2019s leap to Broadway has been met with lukewarm critical reception, and insiders say the impact on the <\/span>Iron Man<\/span><\/i> star has been profound. \u201cRobert took a bold leap from dominating the silver screen to trying his luck on stage,\u201d an insider told <\/span>Closer Weekly<\/span><\/i>. \u201cBut the brutal reviews have shattered him. He poured his heart into this project, only for it to bomb\u2014it\u2019s been a blow to his ego.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The criticism hasn\u2019t been directed at Downey\u2019s performance itself, but rather the play\u2019s tone and structure. <\/span>Variety<\/span><\/i>\u2019s Aramide Tinubu called <\/span>McNeal<\/span><\/i> \u201ca dull and garbled play that says very little about ethics and artificial intelligence\u201d and criticized its focus on \u201ca pompous and exhausting man\u201d obsessed with his legacy. <\/span>The New York Times<\/span><\/i>\u2019 Jesse Green praised Downey for his commitment to the dark and unlikable character but noted that the actor was fighting a losing battle in trying to justify the play\u2019s \u201coutr\u00e9 plot points.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While reviews have been harsh, Downey\u2019s fans have been far more supportive. \u201cI saw it on Friday night and you were phenomenal,\u201d one fan wrote on social media. \u201cDefinitely more than a few scenes I can\u2019t stop thinking about. The whole cast was great.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, insiders claim the experience may have soured Downey on future theatrical endeavors. A source alleged that once McNeal\u2019s run is over, Downey is not likely to participate in theater again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the disappointment on Broadway, Downey\u2019s film career remains strong. The <\/span>Oppenheimer<\/span><\/i> actor and his wife, Susan Downey, are in talks to produce <\/span>The Hider<\/span><\/i>, a film adaptation of Julianna Baggott\u2019s short story, with Downey expected to take on the lead role.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite his previous successes on the silver screen, Downey\u2019s leap to Broadway has been met with lukewarm critical reception, and insiders say the impact on the Iron Man star has been profound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":433,"featured_media":57347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[2373,21254,577,1858,21253,21252],"class_list":["post-57340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-news","tag-iron-man","tag-lincoln-center-theater","tag-oppenheimer","tag-robert-downey-jr","tag-susan-downey","tag-the-new-york-times"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/433"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}