The wicked wit and wisdom of Robert Downey Jr. is a treasure. So it's a good thing that, with a help from friends, he saved himself from the human scrapheap. Clean and sober for several years, Downey is the fine actor who was a self-destructive drug abuser for years and is now a successful reclamation project. You can see him on screen this summer with pals Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder in Richard Linklater's dystopian tragi-comedy, A Scanner Darkly. You can also see him on the streets of Toronto, where Downey is currently shooting a major role as an alcoholic school principal in a new film, Charlie Bartlett.

When you sit down with Downey, you can talk about anything. Be prepared for tangential ramblings, self-mocking, whimsy, and profanity. So he's fun.

A sampling:

On beating addiction: "It's not an elephant anymore. It's just f---ing ants in the kitchen, like everything else."

On his transformation from screw-up to responsible husband (to second wife Susan Levin) and father (to teenager Indio, his son from his first marriage): "It changes so f---ing quick. It really does - if it's true, you know. If it's true and you're not just going through the paces, it is remarkably easy to have an almost entire personality shift."

On being reminded in interviews about his past, because he plays a paranoiac druggie in A Scanner Darkly: "It's funny, just because something is passe to you doesn't mean other people aren't still on that page, if it has relevance, if you do something that is evocative of a subject matter."

On shooting in Toronto, with his son as a visitor, instead of taking Indio to Hawaii: "Love Toronto! The only problem was letting him know that Toronto can be just as fun as the Big Island! 'Yeah, bulls....!' But it can be."

On why he chose the Charlie Bartlett script - the story of a high schooler who sells prescription drugs and cheap psychology to fellow students - after rejecting a pile of other crap: "I love Ferris Bueller's Day Off and one of the first books I ever read was Catcher In The Rye. I appreciate a story that accurately captures a pap smear of a generation. It seems as if this one's got these post-Gen-Xers down."

On what drives youth today: "Fear-based narcissism."

On being the voice of authority to Indio: "Now I'm The Man. I'm the object of my kid's projection of the f---ing square. Really? But being a square is all right."

On being "tarnished in the moral psychology department," as he calls it: "I live by certain principles now. But I can't really speak on any informed level on what anybody else's experience should be. I know it's really good to be grateful and it's totally our responsibility to effectively communicate."

On communicating with Indio: "I wouldn't want to find out that shit had been going on and he was too ashamed or fearful of 'my wrath.' But since when did I become that guy? Why would I come down hard on anybody about anything?"

On working, contrary to the ideals of "slackers, ne'er-do-wells, dope fiends and, in my dad's generation, that whole James Dean thing" which once led him astray: "Now I just have a strong work ethic. I just didn't know it."

On what he would do if he couldn't find decent work: "There are a million ways for me to stay above water, if I have to. Call Keanu and ask him for 10 grand!"

On his emotional and physical dexterity: "Sometimes I can't hit my ass with both hands. But there is something to be said about attempting to operate at your highest control."