Over the past half-decade, Robert Downey Jr. has been tasked with restoring order. Whether that means slaying Marvel baddies or solving Sherlockian mysteries, the Manhattan-born actor is a natural at suiting up for roles that allow him to play the hero. In his latest endeavour, The Judge, Downey Jr. is back at it and must restore order in the court and order in his family.
Downey Jr. plays Hank Palmer, a hotshot, egomaniacal, city-slickin’ Chicago defense attorney with that certain gravitas you’d come to expect from a Downey Jr. character. Palmer is the kind of lawyer who not only wins cases, but wins cases seemingly effortlessly—think Harvey Spector from Suits. But when he receives word that his mother has passed away, Palmer must return to his quaint hometown in Carlinville, Indiana for the funeral and face his estranged father for the first time in years. From there, the film takes a turn that’s unlike any Downey Jr. film we’ve seen in recent years, transitioning into a dysfunctional family melodrama akin to August: Osage County.
Palmer’s father, Joseph, played by Robert Duvall, is an irritable, old, small-town, traditional-style judge who wears his disapproval for his son’s legal perspective like it’s his favourite tie. The two can barely stand the sight of each other.
But in a twisted bit of irony, the senior Palmer is faced with accusations of hit-and-run murder, and, much to his chagrin, must turn to his son for help with the case.
The Judge’s ensemble is absolutely star-studded. The two Roberts—Downey Jr. and Duvall—ooze chemistry in the lead roles, while Vera Farmiga, Dax Shepard, Leighton Meester, Jeremy Strong, and Billy Bob Thornton thrive as support. The film itself is an emotional rollercoaster, but Downey Jr. says the entire cast felt incredibly comfortable in their roles.
“David Dobkin (director) kind of made his bones doing a certain kind of movie—these very successful comedies—but he actually went to Strasberg Institute,” he explained at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. “Susan wound up working for Joel Silver all those years and we did those big movies together, but I see pictures of her in overalls doing a night shoot for nothing—something nobody's ever going to see. We all come from places we’re not necessarily associated with, so, to us, it’s not like, ‘wow, we’re trying to do something different here.’ It’s more of a return to an aspect of where we’ve always been.”
To set the mood for a smaller-scale film, The Judge was shot primarily in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, a historic American village with just over 1,000 residents.
“There are no hotels in that little town, so we were all stuck in bed and breakfasts,” Shepard recalled. “Duvall, Strong, and I were all in the same weird little house.”
Of the tight-knit group of cast and crew, Duvall played a father figure both on and off screen. At 83 years old, he was the elder statesman of the bunch, and was often sought out for advice by the younger cast.
“I remember the first real conversation I had with Duvall was while he was laying in bed with a bunch of pillows,” Shepard said. “I sat at the foot of his bed like I was his son and asked him a trillion questions about movies. I went back to my room and I thought to myself, ‘I just had pillow talk with Robert Duvall in a weird little gingerbread house. What the f*ck is going on right now?!’”
The entire cast erupted in laughter as Shepard reflected on his favourite memories from production. They each had a tale or two of their own, but it seemed that everybody who spoke eventually trailed off into speechlessness.
It was plain to see that making a movie like this filled Downey Jr. and co. with a sense of pride. They were all reminded of their humble beginnings, and gratified to have had the opportunity to make a film that breaks away from the norm.
“These throw-back, character-driven movies that studios used to support have become more rare in today's climate,” David Gambino, the film’s co-producer, justified.
“We were inspired by movies that were made back in the late 1970s and early 1980s that focus on people talking,” Susan Downey, Jr.’s wife and the film’s producer added. “Sometimes it’s nice to have stakes that don’t involve just defending the world.”
Perhaps it worked so well because the characters were so real—so believable. So much so, in fact, that Downey Jr. went as far as joking about the characters helping him with his own real life family dysfunction.
“Suffice it to say, I saved a lot of money on therapy with my own dad working things out with you,” he quipped, glancing to Duvall. “Thank you for that.”
Jokes aside, this film is that powerful. It’s eye-opening, really. It teaches us the importance of family, the importance of forgiveness, and that the bond between father and son cannot be broken.
But has The Judge made a convincing enough case to throw itself into the Oscar conversation? Well, the jury’s still out on that. What’s for certain, though, is this back-to-basics tale of redemption and reconciliation is an exhilarating shift from the new norm.
"There's a lot to learn from this film—a lot of wonderful conclusions to come to,” Duvall said. “Even at my age, it helped me grow a little bit."
And that, as moviegoers, is all we can really ask for.
