Robert Downey Jr’s debut Dolittle trailer is here, marking his first project after finishing an 11-year stint on the biggest movie franchise in the world. We’re talking about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, of course which as far as we know is firmly in his rear-view mirror.
So all eyes were bound to be on his next project after Avengers: Endgame, the latest adaptation of the story of another strange genius, albeit one very different from Tony Stark: Doctor Dolittle.
The film sees the now reclusive, widowed Dolittle come out of self-imposed exile in order to use his famed ability to talk to animals in order to help save the young Queen Victoria from a serious illness.
Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen, Jim Broadbent and Jessie Buckley also feature in the film, alongside an impressive voice cast for the animals including John Cena, Marion Cotillard, Carmen Ejogo, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez, Tom Holland, Rami Malek, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer and Emma Thompson.
We don’t hear many of Downey’s lines in the trailer, so if you’re wondering what he accent is, its Welsh. “I’m having a good time, though I decided to give myself, like, 40 additional challenges, like a Welsh accent – which even Welsh people say is hard to do,” he told Entertainment Weekly last year.
Downey is, of course, not the first actor to play the doctor who walks and talks with the animals. Rex Harrison starred in the 1967 film, with Eddie Murphy appearing in two movies in 1998 and 2001.
Dolittle will be released on 7 February.
