It’s been a star-filled weekend in Santa Barbara, with a dozen of A-listers — including numerous Oscar nominees — making their way to the American Riviera for events at the 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
On Friday night, inside the 2,000-seat Arlington Theater, which was sold out, the fest celebrated Robert Downey Jr. with its Maltin Modern Master Award, which is named after the film critic/historian Leonard Maltin . Maltin moderated a brisk career retrospective conversation with the Oppenheimer best supporting actor Oscar nominee, who charmed the audience with his self-deprecating humor and imitations of everyone from Richard Attenborough to his late father Robert Downey Sr. , prior to Downey’s costar Cillian Murphy presenting him with the award itself.
During the interview, the honoree, 58, reflected on growing up as the son of an independent filmmaker who cast him in a movie, 1970’s Pound , when he was just five. “I think this is what I was supposed to do,” the younger Downey said of acting, deadpanning, “I didn’t really have the panache to be a waiter, I was told, so I had to resort to theater.”