Are you going to have any time between the next Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes?

Robert Downey Jr: No. Straight back to back. Nothing. Sometimes it's hard to stay grounded in the best of times, but I think that when things really start spinning - any can relate to this - it's like you go, 'Usually, things are unmanageable, but I still managed.' Then there are just times when it's the 'Wizard of Oz' and you're house is spinning like this and you're like, 'Alright, well fuck it.' What are you going to do, be like, 'I need this house to stop spinning right now!' So when unmanageability goes to complete and total powerless over the momentum of the way that things are going all you have, for me anyway, all I have is the only that matters anyway which is like, 'Am I cool right now? Am I being honest right now? Am I taking care of myself right now? Have I offended anyone? Do I need to make an apology to anyone? And have I eaten before noon -' because that can effect all the other things.

What’s your start date for Sherlock Holmes?

Robert Downey Jr: October 6th.

And where are you filming that?

Robert Downey Jr: London and then some stage work in New York for 'Sherlock Holmes'. You go to England and you do a movie and you do all the locations in the UK and then we're going to do the stage here.

Is it a brand new script or is it based on the books?

Robert Downey Jr: It is a brand new book. It's interesting and it's very bold, what it does which is that already assumes - it's not an origin story at all - that Watson has been into this for some years and is already trying to get away from him as he did many times during the genesis of their relationship.

Have they cast Watson yet?

Robert Downey Jr: No.

Can you enjoy the moment of this time or like a lot of actors…do you think it’s downhill from here?

Robert Downey Jr: I mean, sometimes that's like, can you enjoy the good times right now, the same is whether you can enjoy the bad times. I think you can either have a good day regardless of what's happening or not. I think there's more pressure to have a good day when things are good because you're supposed to feel a certain way and if you don't feel that way does that mean that there's something wrong with you? No. It means that you have the whole thing wrong, which is that a good day or a bad day the way that you feel is the way that you feel and it usually doesn't match up.

There’s a lot of footage for Tropic Thunder that was shot that’ll be on the DVD. Do you have approval of that footage when it’s not going to be in the movie?

Robert Downey Jr: We were night shooting and I went off in one of the hotel rooms by where the set was and the idea occurred to me, what if Kirk Lazarus started taking the actual Lincoln Osiris's psyche meds to try get to know his mental state better and then what happens in the mockumentary over the course of the week. He moves in with the deceased guy's wife that he's playing who is now like a sixty five year old Vietnamese woman. They have a torrid love affair and he's trying to reconnect with the children they had who are like, 'You're not my dad. I actually liked you in that other movie though.' Now he's on the psyche meds and so he's freaking out. That to me could be a whole other movie. God. That's good shit, isn't it.

Have you seen The Soloist yet?

Robert Downey Jr: I've seen many scenes, but not the complete project, but what I've seen is pretty marvelous. Jamie [Foxx] is definitely at the top of his game and it's amazing. He played Nathaniel [Ayers]. But Joe Wright is the real star of 'The Soloist' and the kind of filmmaker he is.

He has great shots in all of his movies. Were there some long shots that he did or special ones that you remember?

Robert Downey Jr: There are some shots that honestly we would watch, one of them we watched and people were crying and I thought that was such a base old Hollywood thing where you're watching a certain shot on playback and people are like [crying]. I was like, 'We're watching a monitor and a take from a movie. What's wrong with us?' But there was something about the way it was executed and where it was at in the movie and what it meant metaphorically that I think everyone was projecting their own lack of emotional fulfillment on it.

Are you ever going to do a musical?

Robert Downey Jr: Yes. I am.

Which one?

Robert Downey Jr: I don't know.

You made a record back in the day.

Robert Downey Jr: I made a record. I've got a lot on my plate, thanks. I'm feeling enough fucking pressure that I have to bang out a musical [laughs].

But do you really want to do one?

Robert Downey Jr: I seriously do. In fact that's just about all I want to do aside from the stuff that they're paying me to do that I still have to do that I want to do.

So the next thing you pick could be a musical?

Robert Downey Jr: Yeah, but please don't hold me to that because I might feel toxic like I violated your trust.

You did The Singing Detective.

Robert Downey Jr: Obviously it was such a resonant project that no one even remembered it.

You’re not going to say what’s in the box?

Robert Downey Jr: I'm not going to tell you what's in the box. This is literally the only mystery that I have left.