After Downey, 58, took home his first Academy Award at the 96th Oscars on Monday, Depp, 60, shared two photos of him and the Oppenheimer star at the Golden Globe Awards in 2011 to his Instagram Story.
“Let’s try this again… congrats to my dear friend,” Depp wrote in a caption placed below the two photos.
Depp and Downey have never appeared in a movie together, but the pair have both been Hollywood mainstays since the 1980s. Depp once said in an interview that he and Downey have “known one another for a million years” while discussing his son Jack Depp’s love for Downey’s performance as Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“We sort of came up the ranks together in a weird way back in the ’80s and stuff. He’s someone I’ve always admired and we’ve had a good relationship,” Depp previously said. “He came over one evening for dinner, he and his wife came for dinner and my son was just like — he couldn’t believe he was sitting next to Iron Man. And so I saw [Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean character Captain Jack Sparrow] leave my son’s eyes and Iron Man was the ticket.”
Downey’s Best Supporting Actor win on Sunday came on his third career Oscar nomination. He previously received a Supporting Actor nod for his role in the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder and a Best Actor nomination back in 1993 for portraying movie legend Charlie Chaplin in 1992’s Chaplin.
“I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy, in that order,” Downey joked during his acceptance speech on Sunday. “I’d like to thank my veterinarian — I meant wife — Susan Downey over there. She found me, a snarling rescue pet, and loved me back to life. That’s why I am here. Thank you.”
“Here’s my little secret: I needed this job more than it needed me,” he added of Oppenheimer, which marked only Downey’s second onscreen credit since he finished playing Tony Stark in Marvel movies back in 2019. “[Director Christopher Nolan] knew it, [producer Emma Thomas] made sure she wrapped — surrounded me with one of the greatest cast and crews of all time,” he said. “Emily, Cillian, Matt Damon … it was fantastic and I stand here before you a better man because of it.”
