Because he’s clearly not satisfied having a hundred projects bobbing away in the waters of his development fish tank, Robert Downey Jr has hooked another possible film and stuck it in with the rest, scoring the option on Adam Gibgot’s pitch The Accidental Genius.
No, it’s got nothing to do with either of his other smart arse characters (Iron Man’s Tony Stark or Sherlock Holmes) – it’s the story of an ordinary man who falls into a coma and wakes up with vastly improved intelligence. Also loitering around his noggin are visions of a strange symbol that no one else seems to recognise. No one, that is except for a burnt-out prodigy, who spirits our hero off on a mission to solve an ancient mystery that could end up changing the world. Very Da Vinci Code!
In case you were wondering, yes, this really does happen to people occasionally, though it’s a fairly rare medical condition.
For now, Downey Jr is only producing with his other half Susan via their Team Downey company. But since that was set up with Warner Bros. in order to find and work on starring projects for him, there’s a chance he’ll end up taking a role somewhere down the line.
Right now, though, he’s got to think about being Tony Stark once more for Iron Man 3 and he’ll crop up in both Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and The Avengers in the coming months.