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
Man of a Thousand Faces (film) Man of a Thousand Faces (film) Man of a Thousand Faces is a 1957 film detailing the life of silent movie actor Lon Chaney, in which the title role is played by James Cagney. Directed by Joseph Pevney, the film's cast included Dorothy Malone, Jane Greer and Jim Backus. Chaney's grown son was played by Roger Smith, later the star of television's "77 Sunset Strip", and studio chief Irving Thalberg was portrayed by Robert Evans, who soon left acting and eventually became head of Paramount Pictures. The film's four writers were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay