Robert Downey Jr. on His Interview Walkout

As the exhaustive press tour for Avengers: Age Of Ultron comes to a close, Robert Downey Jr. has commented on his decision to walk out of an interview with Channel 4's Krishnan Guru-Murthy last week.

After asking Downey Jr some questions with regards the film, Guru-Murthy then moved on to talk about the actor's past (and his well-charted drug battles, and prison time). Eventually, after questioning whether they were there to promote a movie, Downey Jr got up and left the room. The clip made its way around the internet really rather quickly.

"I wish I left sooner," Downey Jr's now told The Howard Stern Show. "I don't even know the guy's name, but I know that he pulled the same garbage on Tarantino, and Tarantino stayed in his chair and lit him up for five minutes."

To be fair, it strikes us that Guru-Murthy's Tarantino interview was very different. There, he questioned the writer-director about the violence in his films, in relation to Django Unchained, and that always struck us as a legitimate line of questioning. That Tarantino didn't want to discuss it was his choice, of course, but it seems harsh to suggest Guru-Murthy's line of questioning was out of bounds there.

With the Downey Jr. interview, in a six minute slot to promote Avengers: Age Of Ultron, it felt a lot more jarring and out of context. Guru-Murthy, for his part, has argued that Downey Jr's PR reps knew that the interview would talk about his past, and that Channel 4 News wouldn't have agreed to an interview just on the basis of promoting a film.

Downey Jr., however, still isn't happy. "I'm one of those guys who always assumes the social decorum is in play and we're promoting a superhero movie, and a lot of kids are going to see it. It has nothing to do with your creepy, dark agenda that I'm all of a sudden feeling ashamed and obligated to accommodate your weirdo shit."

"I am completely unevolved when it comes down to civil boundaries. 'You know what, you're weirding me out. You are a bottom feeding muckracker.'"

"The assumption is that there is a button that because you've sat down there, you're going to be scrutinised like you're a kiddie fiddler who's running for mayor," he added.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy, for his part, has defended his stance in a piece at The Guardian, here. 

Howard Stern Show.
The Guardian