The Sympathizer will mark Robert Downey Jr.’s first major TV role in decades, and it will be quite a stretch for the Oscar-winning actor. The acclaimed filmmaker Park Chan-Wook recently opened up about Downey’s casting and explained why he decided to cast him in multiple roles.
The Sympathizer draws inspiration from Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, about a communist spy who kept reporting to the Viet Cong even after the Vietnam War was over. Robert Downey Jr. plays several antagonist roles in this project, and we’ve seen him portray a CIA agent, a shady congressman, and a self-absorbed director in the first episode alone!
Park Chan-Wook initially considered several great actors for different roles, including Josh Brolin and Mark Ruffalo, but he decided to only stick to one because he felt this idea would subvert his original intention for these characters.
“I came to realize these guys are actually one and the same because they’re doing all different kinds of things, but essentially they’re representing America as a whole… So I thought I would flip the script and that one actor will be playing all these roles,” he told Deadline.
The Sympathizer debuted on Max on April 14, and it will feature a total of seven episodes streaming weekly.
