Robert Downey Jr’s documentary on his father titled, “Sr.” is purchased by Netflix

Robert Downey Jr.’s post-Marvel days is seeing the actor scaling back on blockbuster films. His next big budget outing looks to be Christopher Nolan’s latest drama, Oppenheimer. The actor is slated for a mini-series called The Sympathizer, and a pending production of Sherlock Holmes 3. However, the latest project about to be released is a documentary about his father, Robert Downey Sr.

Sr. will be produced by Downey Jr., but is directed by Chris Smith, known for Fyre and Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond. The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Netflix has now picked up the documentary and is aiming to give it a big Academy Award push. The description of the film, per imdb, says, “Follow the tender but appropriately irreverent account of the life and career of Robert Downey, Sr., the fearless and visionary American director who set the standard for countercultural comedy in the 1960s and 1960s.”

The story of Robert Downeys – Sr. and Jr. is a rough one. The dysfunction of this father-son relationship is credited by Downey Jr. for getting him started on drugs which led him down the road to excess before his big second-act as a movie star, which happened once he got sober. The film, being produced by Downey Jr. and his wife, Susan Downey, didn’t want to shy away from the subject. The producing team released a statement after the Netflix acquirement, “We’re grateful to have Netflix partner with us on this highly personal project. They’re the ideal home for our unconventional, oft absurd, brutally in-depth homage.”

Director Chris Smith adds, “On the first day of filming, Sr. said ‘trust anything, and anything can happen’ — and that ended up being the guiding light for the project. What started as a straightforward documentary quickly devolved into anything but. Knowing what I know now, it’s really the only way you could attempt to make something on the two Downeys. Larger than life but open and human as ever, it was such a pleasure and life affirming experience to try to capture some glimpses of the highs, lows and everything in-between.”

Sr. is scheduled to screen at the New York Film Festival on October 10 and 11. No word yet on when Netflix plans to release it.