Robert Downey Jr. to Star in Remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' From Paramount & 'Peaky Blinders' Writer Steven Knight

by Darian Scalamoni

    Robert Downey Jr. (Avengers: Endgame, Iron Man) has been mostly off the radar since he exited his legendary role in the MCU as Tony Stark. Though he's due for a big next few years, he's signed on to another project that will reimagine a classic film.

    According to an exclusive from Deadline, RDJ will headline Vertigo, which will be a remake of the 1958 psychological thriller from the mind of Alfred Hitchcock. Downey Jr. would fill the lead role originally played by James Stewart as a former detective who is forced into retirement after traumatic experiences with his time as an on-duty officer which leaves him with the titular condition. The film will be produced by Paramount and written by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, Locke). Paramount's involvement makes sense as it was the home studio for the original film and Hitchcock's estate favored the studio for a remake of the cult classic. 

    Though we had mentioned that Downey Jr. has been out of the spotlight for a while, however, he has a role in Christopher Nolan's highly-anticipated film, Oppenheimer in July. He's also currently filming Park Chan-wook's HBO limited series The Sympathizer which is in collaboration with A24. He's also been in talks to reprise his role as Sherlock Holmes for a trilogy ender along with filmmaker Guy Ritchie.