Robert Downey Jr. David Fincher's mystery thriller "Zodiac", which was based on a true story. He played the role of "San Francisco Chronicle" journalist Paul Avery, who was reporting the Zodiac Killer case. With all of the critical success Downey had experienced throughout his career, he had not appeared in a "blockbuster" film. That changed in 2008, when Downey starred in two critically and commercially successful films, "Iron Man" and "Tropic Thunder". In the article Ben Stiller wrote for Downey's entry in the 2008 edition of "The Time 100", he offered an observation on Downey's commercially successful summer at the box office: In
Robert Downey Jr. of screenwriter Shane Black. After "Gothika", Downey was cast in a number of leading and supporting roles, including well-received work in a number of semi-independent films: "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints", "Good Night, and Good Luck", Richard Linklater's dystopian, rotoscoped "A Scanner Darkly" (in which Downey plays the role of a drug addict), and Steven Shainberg's fictional biographical film of Diane Arbus, "Fur", where Downey's character represented the two biggest influences on Arbus's professional life, Lisette Model and Marvin Israel. Downey also received great notice for his roles in more mainstream fare such as "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and