Robert Downey Jr. and Shane Black Treat Alamo Drafthouse to Play Dirty: Our Reaction and more!
Shane Black has been one of the most recognizable names in action for a very long time. All the way back to the original Lethal Weapon in 1987. The actor/writer/director has given action fans such classics as The Nice Guys, The Last Boy Scout, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The latter, featuring Robert Downey Jr., which I’m sure you are very aware of. And this past Monday night, JoBlo was invited to the Alamo Drafthouse in Los Angeles for a treat. We, along with several others attending the event, had a first look at Shane’s latest, Play Dirty. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, and Thomas Jane. Look out for a full review soon.
After the screening of the new feature, Alamo Drafthouse presented a conversation with the two talents. The reunion of Robert Downey Jr., who is one of the producers of the film, and Shane Black was streamed at theatres all across the country. And yes, it was clear that you were in the presence of dear friends. Friends who also happen to be massive stars in the world of action, balanced by wit and thrills. Play Dirty covers the bases when it comes to Black’s specialty. It’s soaked in Christmas, the twists are many, and the cast brings the signature dialogue to life. Rosa Salazar is especially fantastic here.
Aside from the film itself, it was a privilege to attend this delightful chat. And it began with the squelching of an internet rumor when Robert Downey Jr. mentioned his cameo in the new film. “We’ll get into my cameo later, and I believe you spotted it.”
Black added, “You know, a lot of people think you were in a movie called The Nice Guys. “In what capacity?” Downey asked. “There is a point where Ryan Gosling falls down a wooded hillside. And he finds a body behind a tree, and it’s shown only in the light of his cigarette lighter. And he goes, ‘Oh, my God, Robert’s down.’ And to this day, it was on IMDb at one point.” Downey questioned Black, “Am I credited with that?” “A dead body. And did you notice that the cop in the car, Stan, crashes a cop car in this? That was Ben Affleck.”
Setting cool cameos aside, the pair continued with a little description of what we witnessed from Mr. Downey. “I think Play Dirty is really kind of subversively, super witty. We’ll talk about the cast and the storytelling and all that, but if I were to pull any one of you aside right now and ask you to walk me through all the machinations of the plot, how do you think it would do? Pretty good. I kind of followed it.
I think, unlike a lot of crime thrillers or crime thrillers with wit, there’s something about this. And why I think it bears rewatching. And why I think Play Dirty is so good. You have to stop and think, okay, this is not the first time in this film that robbers are stealing from robbers. They’ve repeated that theme. But now there’s a turnaround and a twist and a double graph from this and The Outfit. By the way, The Outfit wasn’t that the name of one of his novels?”
Mr. Black continued, “Yeah, that was in fact, that is the novel’s sort of, I believe, where he goes up against the Outfit. That’s what they’re talking about.. It’s a previous experience. So we didn’t start with the first one, because that’s been done many times. Yeah. So we reference it as though he’s [already introduced]. It’s like Superman did that. They start when he’s already been a superhero for, what, three years or something? Yeah, that’s why we did it.”
As the conversation progressed into the blue-collar nature of the film, Downey took it a bit deeper. “I feel that you really modernized this kind of crime thriller. And brought this character into 2025, and I think, and I have to really credit Amazon with this too. Do you notice the scale of this thing when watching it over these different iterations? And then refreshing it at night before last again on a big screen? I was like, it just never stops, from the beginning.
He continued,” And it’s not just that I sometimes tune out. This is one of the things that you truly are a master of. You have been from the beginning of your career, even when you were just writing Lethal Weapon. That then was fleshed out by other folks, that there’s an immense amount of detail into the sanctity of the American experience of an action movie. And then bringing in the genre of heist. But it just never stops. But it also doesn’t feel like I’ve tuned out because it’s too much, because there’s this machination of how you’re telling the story at the same time that the story is always connected to the action.
Black explained, “Yeah, an action picture where you can you can swap where this action’s interchangeable. Let’s put the fight here. Let’s move it to the beginning and do the fight there. Inherently, that’s a problem, because as you know, and in your films, when there’s an action sequence, it’s determined to reveal something, not just a plot twist, but something about you being pushed to an extreme or pushed up against the envelope of your moral code or something.”
“And then there’s the other thing I wanted to talk about. I would imagine you guys agree, there’s something about this that is a really diverse and interesting [take on the genre]. I think it’s a great ensemble cast. In the vein of just some of those huge movies, you could fill in the blank yourself. I think you have Mark and Rosa. And then it just keeps getting more interesting.
Downey continued, “In all the characters, you might want to spend some time talking about some of the other cast members. They all just seem to bring in this other element or this energy. This kind of frequency that feels like it not only enhances what’s going on. Yet no one feels like they’re sticking out like a sore thumb. And yet there’s this whole range of characters in it. How did you find those balances and tell me a little bit about this great cast?”
“Well, it is a great cast. It was shot in Australia, so necessarily, we were looking for people in Australia, not just BD players, but to actually participate as leads in the movie. And we got Chi Hansen, and we got Claire Lovering, and the great thing about them is they do what great actors do, which is two things. One, they surprise you, and secondly, they do it without a lot of screen time. So these guys, in a very short span, were able to define and stamp themselves as you need. Some of that’s the writing that reminds me, by the way, to call out Anthony Baggerosi and Charles Mondry. I mean, these are my guys. I’ve known them for 40 years.”
Seeing these two cinematic titans converse was a thrill for those in attendance at any of the Alamo Drafthouse Theatres. Make sure you check out Play Dirty on Amazon Prime, this coming October 1st.
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