Robert Downey Jr. to star in 'The Voyage of Doctor Doolittle' opening in 2019

Image from Sun Times National

By Darian Scalamoni

            Robert Downey Jr. has been heavily involved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since its inception back in 2008 when the actor portrayed the titular role in Iron Man. Here we are almost ten years later and Downey barely has time to play other roles in Hollywood. Deadline reports that Downey will find himself a role outside the MCU as he’s set to star in The Voyage of Doctor Doolittle for Universal.

            The Voyage of Doctor Doolittle will follow Downey as the title character based on the 1920s children’s books. This isn’t the first version of Doctor Doolittle on screen as Rex Harrison portrayed the character in 1967 and Eddie Murphy in 1998. The movie will act as a family affair with Downey playing the veterinarian who communicates with his animal cohorts throughout which could make for an interesting film. I’m not a huge fan of this for Downey as I wish he’d focus on more serious dramatic work which he happens to be damn good at. Downey has two Oscar nominations and has been busy playing Tony Stark and Sherlock Holmes over the past ten years that he only has a handful of films to his credit in the same time span.

            Downey was seen last year in Captain America: Civil War and will play Tony Stark/Iron Man twice more in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War before portraying Doctor Doolittle. He’s also set to star in an HBO series that is inspired by the classic TV show, Perry Mason. That’s set to be produced by Downey’s production company he shares with his wife as well as written by Nic Pizzolato, who wrote True Detective for the premium network.

            Stephen Gaghan (Syriana, Gold) will write and direct the film that is scheduled for a May 24^th, 2019 release. As of now, the movie will go head to head against Minecraft: The Movie based on the popular video game series starring that will star Steve Carell.