“I’m not saying that I’m like a fledgling interior designer, but there’s two kinds of people, and I’m the kind that cares about the drapes,” said Robert Downey Jr., apparent jack of all trades, in a recent interview with People. The Oppenheimer star and newly minted Academy Award winner, along with his wife, producer Susan Downey, sat down with the magazine for their latest cover. They chatted about everything from upcoming projects (catch him on the small screen next month in HBO’s The Sympathizer) to his affinity for making temporary living situations feel as cozy as home sweet home.
“I have an 85-point process of making the [hotel] room our own,” Downey Jr. said of his habits when traveling with his wife. Shortly before the interview, the couple applied their skills to a quick reinvention of the hotel suite hosting them before his big Oscar win. “Even when we just checked into the hotel where we got ready, [Susan] comes in, she puts down her purse, she sits down and she starts,” said Downey Jr. The adjacent patio also got the Downey Jr. treatment: “I was outside rearranging furniture…. I mean, it’s pretty freaky.”
The look of a space clearly matters a great deal to the Iron Man actor, but he didn’t stop there when it came to creating the appropriate atmosphere in the space. Downey Jr. also threw some sage and incense into the mix to strike the right mood. “It was a little musty in there. So I feel like I’m in charge of the…” he joked, searching for the word for his self-appointed title.
“Ambiance,” Susan added. “Yeah, I’m the ambiance guy,” Downey Jr. said.
Perhaps he’s not quite a “fledging interior designer,” but if the 58-year-old’s refashioned spaces are anything like the dreamy Hamptons retreat AD toured in 2017, we would encourage the actor not to sell himself short.