Simu Liu is going viral for the expert way that he detailed his Avengers: Doomsday co-star Robert Downey Jr.’s bizarre on-set arrangement in a recent interview.
In case you missed it, last year, Marvel officially announced that Robert would be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Victor Von Doom, aka Doctor Doom, in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday movie. This was kind of a big deal because his original character, Tony Stark — who was basically the foundation of the MCU — famously died in Avengers: Endgame back in 2019, so fans were thrilled by the concept of having Robert back on their screens.
Simu stars opposite Robert in Avengers: Doomsday, reprising his role as superhero Shang-Chi, and in a new interview with Collider, he revealed that Marvel has seriously pulled out all of the stops for RDJ’s homecoming.
Speaking to the publication, Simu explained: “Downey famously has this convoy of trailers and this whole area in base camp that we affectionately called Downey Land. And I remember getting invited to Downey Land for the first time and just showing up in this tent, and it’s all this beautiful Andy Warhol-esque artwork, except all the characters are Downey. I mean, he’s so self-aware.”
“So, he greeted me, and then I didn’t realize that Downey Land has its own chefs, but I had brought my set lunch, and he was like: ‘Oh, no, no, no. We don’t do that here,’” Simu went on. “The chefs had come and laid out this full buffet, and I was like: ‘Oh, I’ll put this away.’ And then just the people walking through, I was like: ‘I cannot believe I’m having lunch with these people.’”
Simu also revealed that Downey Land had cast members casually walking around as half-dressed superheroes, recalling: “People with their costumes in these various states, some people in full costumes, still. Some people have really uncomfortable costumes, so they like to strip down, or it’s three pieces, and they strip out of two. It’s all of us just kind of sitting around and talking about our lives and our careers. Those are priceless, irreplaceable memories that I’ll have for the rest of my life.”
Needless to say, Simu’s comments about Robert’s bizarre set-up immediately captured people’s attention online, with many being left tickled by the way that he described it. For example, one particularly viral tweet reads: “Simu is so real for saying all this complimentarily to get the info out but also covering his ass. He’d do well working an email job.”
“He is good at backhanded compliments,” somebody else agreed.
Others paid particular attention to how Simu described the “Andy Warhol-esque artwork” depicting Robert throughout Downey Land, with another popular post quipping: “‘self-aware’ isn’t exactly the phrasing I’d use after hearing this anecdote but sure.”
One more echoed: “what an interesting use of ‘self-aware.’”
What do you make of Downey Land? Let me know in the comments below!