The actor, known for his past use of drugs and alcohol, walked off the set of an interview being conducted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Channel 4.
It was going smoothly until Guru-Murthy started in about jail and drugs. During the interview, it seemed like “Iron Man” Downey Jr was content but it turned for the worse when Guru-Murthy chimed in and said, “the dark periods you went to…” One can see Downey Jr stay calm and then he simply said, “I’m sorry, what are we doing?” The BBC reported it that way as well.
He then walked out on the interview. It has been reported by the BBC what Downey Jr. said as he walked off as well. “It’s getting a bit Diane Sawyer and you’re a bit of a schmuck,” he could be heard saying. Sawyer has a reputation of probing in some personal ways during her interviews.
One must remember that Guru-Murthy has done this in the past and is no stranger to this type of style. But, one wonders if that is necessary when asking a movie star about an upcoming movie. Downey Jr. has addressed his jail time and his drug use in the past, so is it fair game to always bring them up? After all, this was a celebrity interview on a press junket for a movie.
That is a debate that can take place and will. In the full interview, Downey Jr does delve into a bit of politics, and then it starts to get uncomfortable. Downey Jr. even noted that the interviewer foot started to move. “Your foot is starting to jump” he noted. Downey Jr even looked off a few times as if he knew this was started to get into an area in which he did not want to go. “I’m sorry, I really don’t…what are we doing?” and then he said “bye.” All this gets going around 5:30 in this video.
Downey Jr. did not storm out but walked out calmly. A publicist off stage stopped the interview, and that is why Downey Jr. was looking off camera at the end. He was getting a feel of what to do.
He is out promoting “Avengers: Age of Ultron” which opens overseas this weekend and will hit the states on May 1. It is expected to open even larger than “Furious 7” did a few weeks ago. The box office is up from 2014 and it is movies like these and stars like Downey Jr. that are making that happen.
In the past, Guru-Murthy had a similar situation with Quentin Tarantino.
