Robert Downey Jr. Asks Hollywood To Forgive Mel Gibson While Accepting American Cinematheque Award

The American Cinematheque tribute to Robert Downey Jr last night held might have been unthinkable just a few years ago when the actor was hopelessly hooked on drugs, destroying hiscareer and winding up in prison. But if there is anything Hollywood loves, it is redemption – and a second(or third or fourth) chance. That’s something Downey received and ran with largely thanks to his wife Susan who put him on the right course and hasn’t let him fall offsince.With a hot career thanks to a second Oscar nomination for Tropic Thunder and blockbuster franchises like Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes, Downey not onlyturned around hiscareer, he fixed his life and now he’s reaping the rewards as evidenced by the great turnout on Friday night at the Beverly Hilton. But the evening took a serious turnwhenDowneymade an impassioned pleatoHollywood to “forgive” his friend Mel Gibson who was on hand to present him with the award. “Unless you are without sin –and if you are, you are in the wrong [expletive] industry, you should forgive him and let him work,” Downey said to much applause. The whole eveningwas about as loose – and honest – as these sorts of things ever get. Perhaps that was due to the lack ofcameras this year. Comedian Gary Shandling made note of that right off the top: “It’s untelevised this year. It’s been downgraded to a live show.If you don’t see it on TV, does that mean it’s good? Does that mean you can say F***?”And then JamieFoxx, in the same pre-taped bit, started singing CeLo Green’s ‘F*** You’ song. American Cinemathequeis dedicated to showing and preserving the great films and operates my favorite theatres, the historic Egyptian and Aero in Los Angeles, did not lock in a tv deal this year after having their annual award show broadcast on AMC and most recently, ABC. So this time anything goes and it did. That opening pre-tape piece also featured Gibson and it didn’t pull any punches. “It’s amazing how clean he is with all that cocaine,” said Foxx of the night’s honoreeat one point , and that was pretty much the tone all night as cameras constantly caught Downey laughing at everything. Jodie Foster came out and noted that they both had worked with Gibson twice and said Downey was “Crazy brilliant and brilliantly crazy. Luckily for us he flipped the switch and got sober.” Jennifer Aniston on the other hand cracked she knew “he would never let his career get in the way of classic Grade A drugs”. Anthony Hopkins appeared on tapeand led into clips from Downey’s Best Actor Oscar nominated perrformance in Chaplin which should have been a winner but unfortunately he lost to what amounted to a career award for Al Pacino (for Scent of a Woman). His pregnant wife Susan appeared and said she fell for him despite “his well-documented DNA but I’m not going anywhere.” On his acting she commented , “Give him one line and he will give you 100 variations”. The whole family was there including his mother Elsie, sister Allison and first son, Indio. Dad Robert Downey Sr. , a filmmaker in his own right showed footage from Downey’s film acting debut at age 5 in his father’s Pound which he got to be in because as Sr. says, “we could not afford a babysitter”. In one of the night’s most poignant moments his dad turned to him and said very publicly, “Robert, the moment you turned your life around is more heroic than any movie. I’m proud to be your father.” He was described “like a phoenix who would rise from the ashes, always strong in body , mind and spirit”. Jack Black called him a “stone cold stud muffin” while Michael Douglas , looking great, said “working with Robert Downey Jr ( on The Wonder Boys) was something special. He absolutely has the ability to be more alive in front of a camera than in his own life.” His Iron Man director Jon Favreau told the crowd he didn’t know the Robert that “screwed up”. He said when he came in for the role he was focused, dedicated and said it was his part. His co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, on tape, called him “one of the finest actors this business has ever seen but everyone knows that.” Joel Silver also spoke (too long) along with Jared Harris but the undisputed highlight of the night came when previously unannounced guest Mel Gibson appeared. Gibson and Downey Jr. co-starred in Air America and Gibson’s unwavering support of Downey during his darkest hours was well-documented at the time. He said “He taught me many things and I will use the ‘C’ word, courage. There’s nothing so much wrong with him. Of course you have to worry about the guy making the judgement here. He’s a good dude with a good heart,” Gibson said in bringing Downey up to accept his award to a standing ovation. “This is my fuckin’ time,” Downey said. “Mel and I have the same lawyer, same publicist and same shrink. I couldn’t get hired and he cast me. He said if I accepted responsibility – he called it hugging the cactus – long enough my life would take meaning and if he helped me I would help the next guy. But it was notreasonable to assume the next guy would be him.” Downey then went to hug Mel and urged people to let him continue his career without shame. He also pointed out Sean Penn in the audience who once told him, “open the door or I will kick it down”. Warner Bros execs Jeff Robinov, Dan Fellman and Sue Kroll were among those out in force for the event. Downey’s Sherlock Holmes sequel is their big Holiday release. Its directorGuy Ritchie also spoke. Universal’s chief, Adam Fogelson was there too and told me he has hopes the studio’s big summer hit, Bridesmaids will get Oscar recognition for Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress Melissa McCarthy and , fingers crossed, maybe even more than that. He’s already high on next year’s possibilities including the planned Tom Hooper film of Les Miserables with Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe. Fogelson , who just got re-upped through 2014, said he had a rough week with the Tower Heist VOD controversy but really loves this job. I also talked to Downey’s agent and co-chair of CAA, Bryan Lourd who recounted how he had to go to the Marvel board to assure them Downey would be clean and sober and okay to do Iron Man. The actor was still a big risk then and Lourd said the board had to be convinced he would be a good bet . The rest is obviously history but it was a reminder of how far Downey has come in so little time.Hollywood is a tribute mood this week. After Thursday night’s TV Academy salute to Carl Reiner as well as the Santa Barbara Film Festival honoring Michael Doughlas with the award named after his father Kirk on the same night, the trend continued Friday with