Known for his quirky and oddball roles, Robert Downey Jr. brings his hyper style to this summer's "A Scanner Darkly," the drama based on the novel by Philip K. Dick ("Blade Runner," "Minority Report").

Director Richard Linklater ("Waking Life") utilizes his unique live-action-to-animation style in the movie, which also stars Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Woody Harrelson. The movie takes places in the near future where drugs has overtaken society. An undercover narc (Reeves) begins losing himself to substance abuse and finds his own reality becoming distorted with his imagination.

Robert Downey Jr. talks about the film adaptation in an interview below.

Q: Did you ever read Philip K. Dick stories?

ROBERT: I'm reading "Confessions of a Corporate Hit Man." I know. I saw it at a second hand store. I was like, wow, this was written in 2004, I'm almost up to speed with what's going on in the literary world.

Q: Why did you decide to work with Richard Linklater?

ROBERT: I saw "School of Rock," and I was like, "Why haven't I worked with Richard Linklater already?" Then by the time I got him I was like, "I'm really pissed off I feel like you owe me some you know, retroactive swag." So he gave me the 10 year anniversary "Dazed and Confused" T-shirt, which I still wear with relish.

Q: If it weren't for him, would you have done it?

ROBERT: It would have had to be someone real special, and I am convinced that he is one of our great American directors.

Q: How did the project come to you?

ROBERT: I got a call, and I read the script, and I thought, this is nuts, this is going to be cool. And Keanu was playing the lead, so I went to the chateau, and we just started to have this spitball session. We talked about the characters and all that. And Woody, and Winona, it was just a great experience for me.

Q: What do you think about the whole Big Brother paranoia invoked in the movie?

ROBERT: I would say, you have to give credit to any institution that's so evil that they're completely running the program. I'm not a big illuminati guy, I think paranoia goes from generation to generation. It's convenient if you're neurotic to imagine that there's a few people controlling everything, that way it's manageable and small - like fucking Wizard of Oz, to tell you the truth. But that's not life, life is messy. When you're zoned in on that spot. Or just people who think they know everything.

Q: Knowing that things were going to be animated eventually, does that change how you deliver your performance?

ROBERT: I kind of forgot to tell you the truth. I forgot and then I was really pleased. It's the greatest smoke ring blown in the history of cinema.

Q: Did you look at the live footage?

ROBERT: It looked really simple and crude and improperly lit, which it was, but it also would have sufficed. And again, this was a good fit for telling the story.

Q: What do you like to get from a director?

ROBERT: It's always the same thing. I want to find a man or a woman where we become a third thing together. And the third thing is the character. That's it. I'm not interested in arguing, I'm not interested in imagining that the status is different than it ever is. It's a director's medium, you're there to serve the piece, and if the piece happens to be the character, and what's happening, and what the character means and what the story's about, then you're always kind of playing the director, in a way. And if there's a director who's confident enough with himself or herself to realize that's the alchemy that can happen, then it's a fucking love affair.

Q: Do you think this movie holds relevance to today's world?

ROBERT: Yeah. Movies are- they're still a mystery to me because they're alive. The experience of making them and the process is really all - these articles or stuff will come out but what I'll remember is what it felt like in the room, and what kind of day it was, it was raining now it's not. That's what I think is so magical. Every frame and every instance of the film is supported by - I'm not big on this word- but the karma of the people who came together and did that. It's one thing to have that bullshit attitude, and it's another thing to realize that it's largely true. So this film, ten years ago would have meant one thing, twenty years ago, if it was made into a movie right when it was written it would have been proper. But it's just, again, seeing those cycles, and having been around enough cycles to understand that I'm playing the school principle instead of the rebel student, things tend to repeat themselves in a way that's predictable and yet exciting.

"A Scanner Darkly" is now playing in limited release.