Here’s an awesome-for-obvious-reasons screen grab from the upcoming flick The Judge. Robert Downey Jr. stars as a big-city hot-shot lawyer (is there any other kind?) who returns to the small town where he grew up. He’s unhappily reunited with his estranged family after the passing of his mother. With dramatic elements already at full tilt, he then finds out his father, the town’s judge, has been accused of murder. Damaged Justice indeed.
Even in what looks to be a tear-jerker Downey still manages to slip into some heavy metal attire (thanks to costume designer Marlene Stewart.) My gut tells me he finds the tee in his old room and perhaps his choice of music was one of the many sticking points between him and his strict father. So he puts on the tee and sets out on a bike ride and goes hands-free in an act of youthful rebellion. Hopefully, he proves his father’s innocence and in the final scene, they embrace. But here’s the kicker: this time his father is wearing a Metallica ..And Justice For All tee. “One” starts playing in the background and the credits roll while I reach for a box of tissues.
This isn’t the first time a vintage a heavy metal tee has made a plot topical cameo. In The Place Beyond The Pines Ryan Gosling wore a Metallica Ride The Lightning tee which was loosely used as dialogue in the film. In Whip It, Elliot Page wears a Stryper t-shirt that actually part of the plot.
Downey also sported a vintage Black Sabbath tee in The Avengers. And he doesn’t just wear vintage behind the camera – as previously reported he’s been spotted in public sporting vintage band tees.
Downey is the man.
Check out the last vintage t-shirt cameo in a movie – a “Fugazi t-shirt” in Mud.
