Daily Inspiration Quote by Robert Downey, Jr.

A great script is a trap: it raises the ceiling and yanks away the safety net. Downey's line lands because it flips a common assumption in Hollywood culture, where "good writing" is supposed to solve everything. A terrible script gives an actor cover; expectations are low, and you can either sand down the worst edges or swing for the fences without anyone mistaking the project for prestige. A good script, by contrast, arrives with implied promises: coherence, tone, emotional logic, maybe even awards chatter. Now the job is less about rescue and more about stewardship, and stewardship is unforgiving.

The subtext is professional paranoia dressed as bemused candor. When the material is strong, every choice becomes a referendum on taste and discipline. Overplay it and you contaminate something already elegant. Underplay it and you look inert next to the writing's momentum. You can't hide behind the chaos of a bad draft; you have to match the script's intelligence, and that demands restraint, consistency, and a willingness to disappear inside the work rather than decorate it.

Context matters: Downey is a star whose persona can dominate a room. His career, especially post-comeback, has been built on charisma and improvisational electricity. A good script threatens that comfort zone by asking him not to be the solution. It also threatens the production: when the blueprint is excellent, any deviation (director indulgences, studio notes, actor vanity) is easier to spot and harder to justify. In that sense, "more trouble" isn't complaint; it's respect. The script is no longer something to outsmart. It's something you have to live up to.