Robert Downey Jr is ready to make his Broadway debut in a brand new play from Pulitzer prize winner Ayad Akhtar.
The Oscar-winning actor will play the lead in McNeal, the story of a author battling “an estranged son, a brand new novel, outdated axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with synthetic intelligence”. It’s described as “startling and wickedly good”.
McNeal will play on the Lincoln Heart Theater in New York, the place Steve Carell is presently main a manufacturing of Uncle Vanya. The play will probably be directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher, recognized for staging South Pacific in 2008 and To Kill a Mockingbird in 2018.
A restricted engagement will run from September to November.
Downey Jr is coming off the again of his first Oscar win, choosing up the award for finest supporting actor for his position in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. He’s additionally presently starring in Park Chan-Wook’s small-screen adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer.
The actor was final on stage in 1983 for off-Broadway manufacturing American Ardour alongside Jane Krakowski. “It’s been 40 years since I used to be final on ‘the boards’, however hopefully I’ll knock the mud off fast,” he mentioned in a press release.
Downey Jr, recognized for enjoying Tony Stark within the Marvel universe, can also be set to play a small position in Jamie Foxx’s comedy All Star Weekend.
Akhtar’s earlier stage credit embody 2012’s Disgraced, which gained him the Pulitzer prize for drama, and 2016’s Junk, which was nominated for the perfect play Tony. He’s additionally presently engaged on a Broadway adaptation of Oscar-winning musical La La Land.
The latest Broadway season noticed debuts from different Hollywood actors together with Carell in addition to Rachel McAdams, who acquired a Tony nomination for her efficiency in Mary Jane.
