Robert Downey Jr. sat down for this month’s issue of Esquire and talked about family and success.

On having more children:

“The big unspoken thing here is that we intend to have a family… Hell, yeah. Speaking of artifacts. The ultimate artifact of our love. In a onesie.

On Money:

“I love being a part of something that makes other people a bunch of dough. And I don’t need to make nothing but big movies. In fact, if anything I’m probably in danger of wearing out my welcome.”

On success:

“I hit my stride later than most folks. A couple years ago, it really was a big old hip-hip-hooray and let’s get somethin’ shakin’ here. Then pfffffff – it reorganized at this higher level, and now there’s more to manage, and more opportunity. And then there’s nothing except the question of pacing – because I can go fast like this for a little while or I can start pacing it down and get where I’m actually supposed to be heading – and it’s really, really elusive.”

The first one hasn’t been released yet, but a sequel to Sherlock Holmes is already being talked about with Brad Pitt joining the cast.

Sherlock Holmes, Guy Ritchie’s take on Arthur Conan Doyle’s super sleuth, doesn’t hit cinemas until December, but reports suggest plans are already in place for a sequel.

According to Variety, Warner Bros. is in talks with screenwriting team Kieran and Michele Mulroney to start work on a followup. Executives are believed to see franchise potential in the project, the first instalment of which stars Robert Downey Jr as Holmes, with Jude Law as Dr Watson.

Such plans would appear to fly in the face of speculation that the movie has had a troubled production, including rumored re-shoots and bafflement over the decision not to feature Holmes’s arch nemesis, Professor Moriarty. Brad Pitt has reportedly been lined up to play the character in the sequel.

This Entertainment Weekly cover highlights the new aspects of ‘Iron Man 2′ with Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr. and Mickey Rourke. Did you notice that Gwyneth Paltrow was missing? I actually didn’t until I read this article from The Sun claiming that the actress is furious she wasn’t included in the photoshoot.

“Gwyneth was afraid she’d be upstaged by Scarlett and not being in the campaign was the final straw. She is furious she’s been left out.”

Gwyneth’s rep has already responded to this rumor claiming she is not at all upset.

“She was not at all upset. The fans will get to see more of Pepper Potts as we get closer to the film’s release next May.”

Did anyone expect her rep to say, “Yes, Gwyneth is quite angry that she was omitted from the mag’s cover.” Riiight.

Iron Man 2 will be in theaters on May 7, 2010. Iron Man will battle new villain Mickey Rourke, size up Scarlett Johansson, and, hopefully, prove that the success of the first movie wasn’t a fluke. Downey knows the movie isn’t an underdog this time around. “There are a lot more invisible eyes on us now,” he says.

When Marvel Studios first announced the sequel, no one was sure what the movie would be about. Downey, director Jon Favreau, screenwriter Justin Theroux, and the rest of the creative team struck upon the idea of introducing two very different foes for Stark. On one side is Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a fast-talking weapons manufacturer who fancies himself the next Tony Stark; on the other, Vanko, who, while incarcerated in a Russian prison, creates his own battle-suit, which shoots devastating, whip-like beams. Hammer and Whiplash join forces to take down Downey’s character, Tony Stark. Rourke, for his part, wanted to instill some lightness into the role of the heavy. “I told Favreau, ‘I don’t want to just play him as a one-dimensional p—-,’” he says. “He let me have a cockatoo, who I talk to and get drunk with while I’m making my suit.”

Just as the deals were being hammered out, Terrence Howard — who had played Stark’s best friend — fell out of the sequel in a public salary dispute. The role was re-cast, with Don Cheadle stepping in. “We had to make some tough deals,” says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. “When they got public, you go, ‘That sucks. Okay, you want a peek behind the curtain? Here you are!’” Says Cheadle, “Terrence and I couldn’t be more different. We address it head-on in the movie in one exchange. We’re not trying to fool people.” Cheadle admits he didn’t know much about Marvel’s superhero before the first movie came out: “I always thought Iron Man was a robot.”

Adding more flesh and blood to the new movie, Scarlett Johansson joined the cast as Stark’s mysterious new assistant, Natasha, who has an alter ego of her own, Black Widow. That introduction inevitably sparks romantic tension between Stark and former assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who’s been promoted to CEO of Stark Industries. “The men want it to be, like, ‘Ooh, the girls are fighting over Tony,’ but it’s not as standard as that,” says Paltrow. “There’s a weird male catfight fantasy. Downey agrees. He believes what differentiates the franchise from other superhero series can be summarized as follows: “We’re horny. Not, like, can’t-bring-your-kids horny, but just…horny.”

The question remains whether Iron Man 2 will soar like the first film or show signs of rust when it hits theaters. “People are going to be more critical,” says Downey. “That’s their prerogative….In a way, there’s no way to win, except to win. Big.”

Who knew that celeb couple Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal were friends with Robert Downey Jr and his wife???

Witherspoon and Gyllenhaal were spotted out exercising with Robert Downey Jr and his wife Susan.

The power couples went hiking in the trails of Ojai. The ladies stuck together side-by-side and Jake and Robert were particularly friendly and engaged as they walked next to one another.

After the hike, both couples went back to Reese’s Ojai home. The Downey’s had dinner and spent the night. The next day, the Downeys took Reese and Jake for a spin in Robert’s Bentley to get some coffee before heading back and saying their goodbyes.

“My whole thing is that that I saw ‘The Dark Knight’. I feel like I’m dumb because I feel like I don’t get how many things that are so smart. It’s like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I’m like, ‘That’s not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.’ I loved ‘The Prestige’ but didn’t understand ‘The Dark Knight’. Didn’t get it, still can’t tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I’m like, ‘I get it. This is so high brow and so f–king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.’ You know what? F-ck DC comics. That’s all I have to say and that’s where I’m really coming from.”

“You know, you’re never too old to burn your bridges because I believe I have offended everyone. “I think I’ve got a couple more. ‘I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it’ is my favorite phrase I’ve ever coined.”

-Robert Downey Jr., who is not one to hold back, gives his thoughts on The Dark Knight.

I don’t think Downey was the first to coin the phase ‘I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it’, although he seemed to try and take credit for it.

Downey sounds a bit bitter, doesn’t he?  He is absolutely entitled to his opinion, but he just sounds jealous of The Dark Knight’s success.  Iron Man was an awesome movie.  I loved it and it made a ton of money.  Eventually, another movie was going to come along that people would love too, Robert!

And clearly Downey isn’t about to do anything for DC Comics anytime soon!

Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan attended the Los Angeles premiere of Tropic Thunder.

I’m guessing that Downey’s moustache is for a new role in a movie.  According to his IMDB profile, Downey is shooting Sherlock Holmes right now.  Now, the moustache makes more sense!

A beaming Robert Downey Jr. enjoys the best seat in the house, sitting courtside as the Los Angeles Lakers face off against the Utah Jazz Sunday at the Staples Center. And the actor had plenty to smile about: apart from the Lakers’ win, his film Iron Man grossed more than $100 million over the weekend.

The summer’s first potential blockbuster stars Robert Downey Jr. as the Iron Man, and drama-film darling Gwyneth Paltrow as his love interest, Christine Everhart. Taking on the role puts Paltrow in some illustrious company – Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry, Jennifer Garner, Kirsten Dunst and Kate Bosworth, all of whom have played superhero leading ladies.

While the part is something new for Paltrow, she was convinced to take it on after her leading man suggested she break out of the art film market.

”(Robert) was very sweet when he called me, and I think we had both kind of been doing these kind of labor of love art films that had been seen by like 16 people, and he said to me ‘Don’t you wanna be in a movie that people actually see?’” Paltrow recounted. “And I thought ‘I never thought of that!’ So, I’m really, really glad that I did it.”

Check out the full story over at YourMovieStuff.com.

Thanks to YourMovieStuff.com for this story!

Pictured above is Ben Stiller (in front), Jack Black (as a blonde in the back), and another famous actor in the middle. Do you recognize who it is? If you don’t there is a good reason why. The actor in the middle is actually white. It’s Robert Downey Jr.!

In Tropic Thunder, an epic action comedy co-written and directed by Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. plays Kirk Lazarus, a very serious Oscar-winning actor cast in the most expensive Vietnam war epic ever filmed. Problem is, Lazarus’s character, Sgt. Osiris, was originally written as black. So Lazarus decides to dye his skin and play Osiris, um, authentically. Funny? Sure. Dangerous? That’s an understatement. ”If it’s done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago,” Downey says. ”If you don’t do it right, we’re going to hell.”

The film marks Stiller’s first directing effort since 2001’s Zoolander. With Thunder (opening Aug. 15), he takes aim at the sweetest target of all: actors. Downey plays one of a team of self-indulgent stars cast in the modern equivalent of Apocalypse Now. Stiller plays an action hero who has just adopted a baby from Asia but worries that ”all the good ones are gone.” Black portrays a comedian known for performing multiple roles in a single film — his latest is called The Fatties: Fart 2. But when the film’s director (Steve Coogan) and writer (Nick Nolte) get fed up with their prima donna cast, they drop them into the jungle to fend for themselves. The actors think they’re doing some sort of full-immersion filmmaking, but the danger they’re in is very real.

Stiller got the idea for Thunder more than 20 years ago while shooting a small part in Steven Spielberg’s WWII drama Empire of the Sun. He’s continued to develop the script as his own star has risen, which makes taking on his brethren all the richer — watch for cameos from Tom Cruise and Tobey Maguire — and all the more perilous. For starters, Hollywood satires have a rocky box office record. And then there’s that little issue of a white guy playing a black guy. Stiller says that he and Downey always stayed focused on the fact that they were skewering insufferable actors, not African-Americans. ”I was trying to push it as far as you can within reality,” Stiller explains. ”I had no idea how people would respond to it.” He recently screened a rough cut for African-Americans, and was relieved at the reaction. ”It seems people really embrace it,” he says.

Paramount is hoping so: The studio plans to debut the trailer online March 17, and Downey is all over it. (In one scene, he tries to bond with a real African-American castmate by quoting the theme song from The Jeffersons.) Downey, meanwhile, is confident he never crossed the line. ”At the end of the day, it’s always about how well you commit to the character,” he says. ”I dove in with both feet. If I didn’t feel it was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I’m just C. Thomas Howell in [Soul Man], I would’ve stayed home.”