Robert Downey, Jr., the 26-year-old star of Less Than Zero, The Pick-up Artist, Chances Are, 1969, True Believers, Air America and, most recently, Soapdish, lives in a Los Angeles gingerbread house he shares with actress Sarah Jessica Parker. When Contributing Editor David Rensin met the energetic young actor there, Downey immediately led him to an upstairs office, where he wanted to video-tape the interview. He quickly abandoned that to show off his electronic keyboards, Macintosh computer, fax machine, stereo setup, video and television equipment. "About the only things that weren't plugged into the wall," Rensin told us, "were the Abdomenizer, the Lifecycle and Downey himself."

Q 1

PLAYBOY: What was the biggest risk you ever took as an actor, and did you pull it off?

Robert Downey Jr.: It was in Less Than Zero, playing a guy who's bisexual, doing a scene with my underwear down and my head between some guy's legs. If I was convincing -- and I think I was -- it was because I was in the moment. I was paying attention. I was also thinking that there's nothing worse than seeing an actor not commit to something that's uncomfortable. As Kevin Kline once said to me, "Actors today refuse to ever really jump into comedy roles, because they are trying to let you know that they are much smarter than the person they're playing. They want to interject little aspects of how wonderfully brilliant and intelligent and ahead of the game they are comedically." I'd give you examples of who he meant, but I might have to work with one of them in two weeks.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: Are there actor peers with whom you can be honest when it comes to their work?

Robert Downey Jr.: It's hard for me to imagine that I'm the one who should bring bad news to somebody I consider a worthless dog-fucker of an actor. Besides, it's important to have a couple of clowns around, isn't it? Of course, if you're really good in something, everybody is very eager to share that with you. Even if you're just OK, they're likely to say something positive. But when you suck and they don't say anything, it says volumes. There are definitely people who are very honest with me about certain things. They'll say, "You were just lazy there. You could have done...." I go, "I know." I take criticism well. I just want to know the fucking truth. I don't need to be babied anymore, I'm twenty-six years old.

Q 3

PLAYBOY: What matters tremendously now that never used to, and what doesn't matter that once did?

Robert Downey Jr.: What matters a lot to me now is longevity. I always had a Dionysian approach to things that I thought really worked for me. But now I have become a little bit more of a grandpa. It's time to build a nest egg. Not just monetarily but emotionally. What's so funny is that ultimately, being in the public eye, you are setting yourself up for a vast and incomprehensible depression when it's over. So what's really important to me that didn't used to be is thinking about my future.

And what isn't important now is leaving a room having convinced everyone that I'm the funniest, most original person they've ever met. I used to have this feeling that unless I had gone nine steps further than was necessary to convince everyone of my comedic genius and spiritual insight, I was invalid. And now I'm just a lot more interested in being OK with myself.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: Having helped bring Less Than Zero to the world, where do you stand on Bret Easton Ellis' latest contribution, American Psycho?

Robert Downey Jr.: Here's how I see it: Anything that is provocative is worth while. American Psycho might not be appealing, it might not be interesting, even, but look what it's created. It's brought out a bunch of people who say, "Oh, you can't do that." Whether it's positive or negative, as long as something breaks through all those subtle areas of your own filtering system and gets you right at the core and gets some sort of response, it has validity. Look, if you asked me if I'd defend someone's right to take a dump on the sidewalk, I'd say yeah. I think "offensive" is definitely in the eye of the beholder. There are a lot of things I'm interested in that everyone else considers offensive.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: What's the most regrettable thing you've ever done?

Robert Downey Jr.: I was in Amsterdam a while ago. I went to the red-light district and I was really, really perturbed by what I saw. I thought it was going to be like little treasurers from Helsinki, but, in fact, it was vile. Strange even to the strange. I went into a bookstore and I opened a book. I should have known. It was like Kindersex and Habensex. Child sex, dark sex. And then I saw this animal thing, and the minute I opened it, I thought, Oh, fuck, it's too late. I've already seen it. Hundsex. Dog sex. That was the most regrettable thing that I've done. I can see it right now. There it is, that jazzed-up chick right on this Rottweiler's schnitzel.