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Movie fans all over the internet want to know why Robert Downey Jr. is now bald. Turns out there is a rather funny story behind the unusual move.
Over the weekend, Robert Downey Jr. took to the stage during the 37th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony to induct Duran Duran.
Side note: Duran Duran actually played at Downey’s 50th birthday party.
As he made his speech, many movie fans were stunned to see Downey rocking a bald head.
The answer to the question of why Robert Downey Jr. is bald now, of course, has to do with a film role.
How Robert Downey Jr. got his head shaved bald is a little unconventional and unexpected
A couple of days before Halloween, Downey shared a video of himself interrupting his two youngest sons, Exton and Avri, while they were carving a pumpkin.
“The things we do for our work… and our kids,” he captioned the Instagram video.
“Hey kids, sorry to interrupt, but I need your help,” Downey says in the video.
“You know how I am starting this project soon?
“The Sympathizer?” his youngest son asks.
“Yeah, the Sympathizer.
“You’re playing like five roles or something,” his eldest son added.
“Right, well anyway, I don’t want to have to wear a bald cap so you gotta shave my head,” Downey replied.
The video then cuts to his boys going to town on his head with a pair of clippers.
At the end of the video, Downey asks his boys, “How much do I owe you?”
Rather than money, they replied that they wanted to turn him into a giant, human pumpkin. And so they did. Watch…
The Sympathizer is a upcoming HBO limited series adapted from a novel that Deadline says is “an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States.”