Here’s Robert Downey Jr. doing yet another preview of Sherlock Holmes, this time on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. I find this “in character” image a little meh, but I’ve been spoiled. The last magazine cover we got of Robert’s was Esquire, in which we can now basically draw Robert’s testicles from memory. EW doesn’t feature Robert’s moose-knuckle (rats!), but the interview is slightly more coherent than the Esquire interview. Robert talks about how he knows he’s in a good place in his life and his career, but he figures he only has a few more years left in the business. This is the new trend for celebrities: announce that maybe all things must end and hope that everyone goes “oh, no, you can’t leave!”

“I have no set plans for my future,” says Robert Downey Jr., who plays the titular detective in the upcoming film Sherlock Holmes (due Dec. 25), directed by Guy Ritchie (Snatch).

“I’ve never had it this good — this is my day in the sun — and I certainly don’t want to look a gift horse in the molars. But [my wife] Susan and I want to begin to be in our lives as much as we are in our jobs. I’d love just to sit here and say, ‘What movie’s playing tonight?’ I’d love to finish the new book about D-day I’m reading. I love painting, I love music.”

The actor, who got his comeback in Iron Man in 2008 and will reprise the role in next summer’s Iron Man 2, isn’t even sure he wants to keep acting.

“I’m f—ing really good at what I do — and have been for a long time, so I don’t waver on that,” he says. “But here’s the thing: I can only be a guy on a call sheet probably, I don’t know, maybe a couple more times. It’s something I’m so grateful to have in my palm, and yet I already see its inevitable decay.”

Or not. Then again, he says with a weary smile, “If Sherlock Holmes performs well, I could be busy for the next 5 or 7 or 10 years.”

[From Entertainment Weekly]

Meanwhile, Robert has made two very important lists this week. First up, he was one the big contenders for People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive, and he got his picture in the top-ten of hot men, along with guys like Bradley Cooper and Robert Pattinson. I know CB will kill me for this (again), but for my money, Robert is totally sexier than Johnny Depp. Now, I love Johnny, I think he’s an incredible actor, and he’s beautiful and all. But he doesn’t make me need to cross my legs. Robert has, on occasion, made me hot. Like that crapfest movie he did with Heather Graham, Two Girls and a Guy. That movie is worth watching just for the sex scene, quite honestly.

The second list Robert made was Forbes Magazine’s Best Actors For The Buck. Robert was joined with Christian Bale and Shia LaBeouf as actors who made the studios the most money for the smallest paychecks. Meanwhile, the Most Overpaid Actors list included: Will Ferrell, Ewan McGregor, Billy Bob Thornton, Drew Barrymore, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jim Carrey. I think Robert still has a good decade of lead actor work, and then he’ll gracefully transition into solid character work. I actually like him better as a character actor – he gets a chance to be his quirky self, and he doesn’t have to be the straight guy.

Entertainment Weekly cover courtesy of CoverAwards. Also, Robert Downey Jr. with friends in Malibu on November 13, and with his wife Susan exiting a Coffee Bean in Los Angeles on November 7, 2009. Credit: WENN.