Robert Downey Jr. sports a completely new look for his role in the new HBO series “The Sympathizer.”
Downey Jr. can be seen wearing a bald cap prosthetic and a curly red wig in the latest photos from the upcoming drama’s set. The actor wears a pair of blue pants, a pink button-down shirt and a maroon jacket during the filming of the series, which is based on a book of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen.
Aside from the “Iron Man” star, Sandra Oh, Kieu Chinh, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, Hoa Xuande, Alan Trong and Fred Nguyen Khan will also appear in the series, which will be shot in both Los Angeles and Thailand.
Robert Downey Jr. on the set of HBO’s The Sympathizer, a new A24 series created by Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden, Decision to Leave) mvs
pic.twitter.com/RjX9xIZoSZ— Movie Menfess (@moviemenfes) January 12, 2023
The “Tropic Thunder” actor will reportedly play a variety of roles in “The Sympathizer,” a thriller focused on a captain in the South Vietnamese army who was a spy for the communist organization Viet Cong. He leaves Saigon for Southern California in 1975, where he immerses himself in the exile community and becomes a cultural adviser to an American film about the Vietnam War. He later returns to Vietnam during a raid on communists.
Downey Jr. will play the roles of a newly-elected Congressman from Orange County, a CIA officer and a movie director. He is also the executive producer of the show.
The “Chaplin” actor started preparations for his roles as early as October when he asked his two youngest kids – Exton, 10, and Avri, 8 – to shave his head.
“The things we do for our work… and our kids. #Sympathizer set ready,” he wrote on Instagram at the time.
In a video he shared, Downey, Jr. asked his kids, “I don’t want to have to wear a bald cap — so will you guys shave my head?” The kids happily obliged. The fun video now has nearly two million likes.
“I wish you were my dad,” Courteney Cox said in the comments section, while comedian Sean Hayes wrote, “Best video on Insta!!!”
A fan requested, “Ok do what you got a do but come back in the mcu please.” Another wrote, “We want you ironman.”
HBO is yet to announce a release date for “The Sympathizer.”
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