Downey considering Poe part in Sly film

NEW YORK, July 6 (UPI) -- Robert Downey Jr. has confirmed he is chatting with "Rocky" icon Sylvester Stallone about starring in the filmmaker's bio-pic about writer Edgar Allan Poe.

However, the Oscar-nominated actor and recovering drug addict told reporters in New York Wednesday that Stallone said he thought they should wait until Downey's career was back in an upswing before they proceeded with the project.

"I'd like to admit that I did have dinner with Sly," Downey said while promoting his new film, "A Scanner Darkly," due out in theaters Friday.

"I'm not ashamed of it; it was a blast, and he wrote a great script. He said I should wait until I'm 'hot' again. ... So we can do this at a big studio. He said, 'I don't want to do this cheap.'"

When a journalist asked how Stallone could say that, given the fact that his own career has cooled over the last decade, Downey replied: "Well, maybe he meant 'we' (are hot again.) He's a great guy. He's really smart."