Robert Downey Jr was lucky enough to get an invitation for dinner at Stanley Tucci’s house over the weekend.
The Iron Man star, 58, sat down with Tucci in “Casa Tucci” and was treated to an Italian feast of pasta and the seafood dish cod alla livornese, which comprises of cod in a tomato sauce with capers, kalamata olives and garlic.
Downey Jr shared a video on Instagram showing the Big Night star cooking up a storm in his kitchen. The clip also showed Downey Jr eating and closing his eyes in satisfaction, before giving Tucci a kiss on the cheek after the meal.
The Oppenheimer actor also praised Tucci’s wife Felicity Blunt, whose sister is his co-star Emily Blunt, for welcoming him into their home.
He wrote in the caption: “Dinner @ Casa Tucci – Truly a gem of a fella and Felicity made me feel like family. Check out Stanley Tucci in Searching for Italy.”
Tucci also posted his own video about the dinner and revealed he threw the dinner party for 11 more people. He gave fans a short rundown of all the ingredients in the cod alla livornese and showed off the finished product before serving up.
Fans reacted adoringly to Tucci and Downey Jr enjoying one another’s company at dinner, ahead of the release of Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan. The film, about the making of the atomic bomb, is out on Friday 21 July.
“My brain may have stopped functioning because [Robert Downey Jr] and Stanley Tucci, two of… Just… I can’t,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
Another said: “Stanley Tucci and Robert Downey Jr?? This is everything to me!! I’m in tears, look at them.”
One person even tried out the recipe that Tucci cooked for themselves and was effusive about how tasty it was.
“I’ve been eating a lot of meat lately, so decided to opt for fish for lunch. I never cook cod, but Stanley Tucci posted a video of himself cooking [cod alla livornese] for friends and I got inspired to try something new. Y’all, this is one of the best thing I’ve made in a minute.”
Tucci has many fans who love his recipe videos for dishes and cocktails on social media.
One of his most popular videos, posted in 2020 during the Covid lockdown, showed the travel show host demonstrating how to make his favourite cocktail, a negroni.
Earlier this month, Tucci admitted that he tried to break up with his now-wife Felicity because of their 21-year age gap and said he was “afraid” to get into a relationship because he “didn’t want to feel old for the rest of my life”.
“But I knew this was an incredibly special person,” he told Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. “Felicity has been so incredible taking on a widower and three children. That’s a huge thing, at a very young age too. If anybody made things better for all of us, it’s her. She’s the one.”
Before marrying Felicity, Tucci was married to Kate Spath-Tucci for 14 years and shared twins Isabel and Nicolo and daughter Camilla. Kate died from stage 4 breast cancer in 2009.
Tucci and Felicity share two children, Matteo Oliver and Emilia Giovanna. They met a year-and-a-half after Kate’s death and married in 2012.
Meanwhile, Downey Jr recently teased that John Krasinski, who is married to Emily Blunt, might have a cameo in Oppenheimer. He shared a photograph with his castmates, including Cillian Murphy and Matt Damon, on social media last weekend.
