Robert Downey Jr. walks out on 'Avengers' interview
Technically Incorrect: After a British interviewer suggests that Tony Stark has become more likable and that this applies to the actor, too, Downey becomes testy.
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
Should superheroes suffer?
Should they be subjected to the slings and arrows of inane interviews?
Just because you're "Iron Man," should some British interviewer have the right to act like your shrink?
Robert Downey Jr. thinks not.
He tried to be as polite as he possibly could to interviewer Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Britain's Channel 4 News during a chat about the new " Avengers: Age of Ultron" movie.
But then the interviewer became Krishnan Guru-Murthy MD. He posited that as Tony Stark has become more likable in the later "Iron Man" movies, so this mirrors Downey himself.
The implication from Dr. Guru-Murthy was that once upon a time Downey was not a nice man. As if he had the actor's medical notes in front of him.
Downey attempted to use just the sort of non-verbal communication for which the British are famous. He offered polite words through gently grimacing lips.
Guru-Murthy plowed on, attempting to look and sound intellectual, as he in fact looked and sounded tone deaf and struck blind.
Somehow, he wanted to link the fact that Downey had once been in prison to the story arc of Tony Stark. Or perhaps Joan of Arc. Or Noah's Ark.
The actor leaned over to his left, begging his publicist to step in -- or, perhaps, in the spirit of true Americana, pull a gun on this intrusive man.
It didn't help. Guru-Murthy reached for one of the shrink classics: Downey's relationship with his father.
This was when, on an apparent cue from his publicist off-camera, Downey waved his fingers and said: "Bye."
"It was just getting a little Diane Sawyer in here," explained Iron Man, as he left the room.
When the new "Avengers" movie hits theaters, we'll all be too entranced by the flash, bang and wallop of the action.
We won't stop to think what these poor actors have gone through, not merely in the shooting of the movie.
We won't remember that, in the attempts to sit, smile and behave, as the deep thinkers of the interviewing world do their worst, these actors went through a particular hell. All so that we could touch the hem of heroes.