Hollywood star Robert Downey Jr. talks about working with his father, filmmaker Robert Downey Sr., on the documentary "Sr." The film, which Downey Jr. made as a tribute to his father's life and work, changed their relationship, he said in an interview with industry magazine Deadline.

"He was used to having the last word on the direction things were going," said the 57-year-old. "And for that insight he needed to know that we were essentially trying to document his life as an artist, as a man, as a father, as a husband and as a brother while he was running out of time."

The father and son shot the mostly black-and-white film while Downey Sr. was already struggling with the effects of his Parkinson's disease. "I think a key moment was when he said, 'I think we need to step up and make Parkinson's a character in this story,'" said Downey Jr. His father died in July 2021 at the age of 85 years.

Very personal documentary

He sees the very personal documentary as part of a development within the film industry, the actor said: "There is a return to the graphic, revealing, personal - the kind of things that most publicists would say: 'I have my whole Career worked so that you don't do that." "They were rewarded with phenomenal feedback for the risk.

Robert Downey Sr. rose to prominence in the 1960s as a director of underground films including the satirical Putney Swope. From his first marriage to actress Elsie Downey (1934-2014) he had two children, Robert and Allyson Downey. He has been married to Rosemary Rogers-Downey since 1998.