Stuck at home during the epidemic I’ve been reading the
whole of the internet and watching the whole of youtube and there’s always something out there that makes you think “how
did that pass me by…?” and "what the...?"
Today it’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy’s Channel 4 News interview
with Robert Downey Jnr from 2015.
For those of you who this had also passed by … erm … it
didn’t go well.
The whole interview is here… Trigger warning - if you are someone who cringes easily you may want to not watch...
I know this is old news …but it was news to me … and it raises
interesting questions. Like how old does
an incident have to be for it to be muckraking to bring it up… ? How personal
should interviewers get…? Which kind of
interested me for unknown reasons. Ok, I’m
just rubbernecking but then the interview its self is largely Guru-Murthy
rubbernecking and…
It starts with standard questions about the film and then …
Things start to go pear shaped when Krishnan asks about the
parallels between Robert and Iron Man …oh dear …we’re going to get personal.
Half way in and in analysing the arc of the Avengers movies
Krishnan remarks of Tony Stark … “He’s becoming a better man …in a way you are
as well.” But No, Robert hasn’t picked
up on the line of questioning just yet.
Or if he has he’s playing his cards close to his chest. Actually he looks puzzled.
“I’d really like to ask you about a quote you gave to the
New York Times,” says Krishnan and you can see Robert Downey Jnr do a double
take and his face fall. The words “I
don’t want to pry …” cause Robert to look in many different directions for
help. As well they should. He may as well have started the sentence “I’m
not a gossip but…”
So anyway… Krishnan asks his question which is about how after
his incarceration Robert Downey Jr (who had the world’s best documented drugs
problem 20 years ago) said “You can’t go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La
Mirage to a penitentiary, and really understand it, and come out a
liberal.” So what did he mean by that?”
Now to be fair to Krishnan this is a quote that Robert
Downey Jr gave that has turned into a meme.
So clearly a lot of people identify with this quote. So it’s a political question that’s
reasonable to answer… so…
Then it gets really awkward because that completely closes
down wherever Krishnan was going with this line of questioning and he’s reduced
to saying the “statement really stands by its self” which is a complete
contradiction of Robert Downey Jr’s point of view which is “it’s something I
said that I’ve no strong opinion on.”
Actually Robert Downey Jr has answered the question which is
“Do you feel strongly about that statement?” to which he’s replied along the
lines of “Not Really”. The problem is
that clearly wasn’t the answer Krishnan was expecting and he now looks like a
man in a lifeboat who’s just noticed it’s sprung a leak.
Krishnan then reframes his question asking …if Robert Downey
Jr doesn’t stand by the statement and now doesn’t know what a Liberal is now… does that mean that he didn’t know what a
liberal was when he made the statement?
The problem is that Robert Downey Jr has already said he
doesn’t remember so then he says … “Are we promoting a movie?”
And herein is the problem …the program is called “Channel 4
News” and this is the arts section of a news program so it has journalists on it
asking political questions … Should artists not be asked political
questions? Well, possibly they
should? Maybe Downey Jr doesn’t
understand this… But then again Krishnan doesn’t ask junior government ministers
their opinions on the Marvel Superhero Universe …so is it even sensible to try
asking Iron Man about politics? Mind you
perhaps if he did ask junior government ministers about Iron Man we’d get some
interesting answers…
Well… fair play to Robert Downey Jr …he still attempts to
answer the question coming up with another answer worthy of “Yes, Minister”
where he says that he’s not “back-peddling on anything I’ve said” but that he
wouldn’t describe himself as “a Republican, a Liberal or a Democrat”. Yep it’s Marvel Superhero Question Time…
Yet even at this point the interview’s still not a car crash
yet until Krishnan says that yes, he agrees it is a promotional interview but
they’d also like to talk about Robert Downey Jr himself… and adding he doesn’t
know how comfortable Robert Downey Jr is with that. Robert Downey Jr looks very uncomfortable but
doesn’t explicitly say it …waiting for Krishnan to read his body language. Mate he’s got more chance of reading Eteocypriot
… So Robert Downey Jr puts his body
language in actual language for Krishnan “You have as much time as anyone
else will.”
Krishnan reads this as “No, I’m not comfortable at all but
I’ll sit and take it” and continues… “Well, let me ask you a few more questions
and you can answer them if you want to and not if you don’t want to…” which is
like telegraphing ahead that he’s uncomfortable with the questions he’s going
to ask so they must be pretty awful.
Not surprisingly Robert Downey Jr looks even more
uncomfortable… “Your foot’s starting to jump a little bit you’d better get to
your next question,” says Robert picking up on Krishnan’s body language.
Kirshnan now frames his next question by mentioning that
Robert Downey Jr had spoken in other interviews about his relationship with his
father and his drinking and drugs and “all of that” …which is his way of saying
“you’ve talked about this before but not with me…?” [to which the answer may be
‘because it’s 20 years ago, you twit] …and goes on “I wonder if you’re free of
all of that.” Now I think I may well be on
the spectrum myself but even I realise that’s just…
“I’m sorry, what are we doing?” says Robert Downey Jr. Fair point.
Naturally Robert Downey Jr replies “Bye” and walks out. As he does he says something partially
inaudible which sounds like “…you and I are okay …it’s just getting a little…”. I believe what he actually said according to
other soruces is “You seem okay. It's getting a bit Diane Sawyer and you're
kind of a schmuck." I’m not sure
what Ms Sawyer is like as an interviewer but I believe a “schmuck” is a “foolish
or contemptible person”. Clearly
Krishnan is not completely unaware that it’s a moral grey area to delve into
someone’s past in this way when there’s no real public interest agenda being
served but … does that make him a “schmuck” or does that make him a …?
Guru-Murthy explained to the Guardian: "I prepare for
Hollywood actor interviews the same way as any other, by reading and watching
what people have said before." But
that’s a bit silly – where is the public interest in Downey Jr’s long ago and much-covered-at-the-time
drug shenanigans...?
Perhaps he could also have thought more about the films? He comes over as a serious
journalist who has been forced at gunpoint to talk about Marvel films. Although he asks a few questions about the
film he doesn’t really seem to have explored any meaning it might have in great
depth. Several times Robert Downey Jr
has to explain to him that he’s misunderstood the plot.
There’s a lot Krishnan just doesn’t seem to understand about
the films. I can’t claim to be a massive
fan but even I know that, for example, Iron Man isn’t really “self-made” … he’s a playboy who inherited his business off
his father and invents things partially to fill a void in his life. Actually – like Bruce Wayne – he’s pretty
rubbish at running his various businesses and the heavy lifting is done by
Pepper Pots. If only Ms Paltrow ran her
own real life businesses with the same level of aplomb.
The thing that, for example, makes the Iron Man / Captain America
dynamic interesting is that Captain America is the creation of Iron Man's father. Also it’s a nice touch that Captain America is
the attempt to solve the problem of war purely by biological engineering and
Iron Man is the attempt to solve the problem of war by robot engineering …or
something. Any questions about the
meanings you can read into the films themselves go unasked. Instead it turns into “let’s dredge up your
drug problems 20 years ago…”
There’s a wealth of avenues to explore but Krishnan can’t
change tack away from the personal because, well, … he’s researched Robert …not
the film …so when Robert won’t talk about Robert he’s run out of questions.
Which raises the question… What is the function of these
interviews – is it a personal interview or is it a film review/criticism …? Well, he’s no Barry Norman… Actually, I
believe the idea is to have someone else on who is not a junior government
minister …in which case it might be an idea to make them feel welcome …unless
he wants to get banished to Radio 4 like Clive Anderson…?
The thing that’s interesting about watching the Bee Gees
interview again is that Clive Anderson teases them quite relentlessly at the
start but then they seem to all move on but clearly his insults haven’t been
forgotten. Trust has been eroded …and
when he makes one more mild quip Barry Gibb decides he’s had enough and
walks. Odd really because it is a comedy
show and it’s hard not to make the obvious joke about a band called … Perhaps the key is sincerity. They don’t seem to think that Anderson is
sincerely interested in them and their music and the obvious conclusion from
then on is that they’re just there to be humiliated…? Who knows?
But the anti-Michael Parkinson tells the Spectator he
regrets the incident (or they say that’s what he says when they paraphrase him). Of course one could make the deeper point
that perhaps people talking about people and to people about people is of its
nature a bit of a…
The fallout from the Robert Downey Jr. interview is even more fun too with Robert
Downey Jr. telling Howerd Stern Krishnan
is a “bottom-feeding muckraker” amongst other less pleasant things. Downey describes Krishnan’s agenda as creepy …
but one wonders if Krishnan doesn’t realise how offensive he’s being. Obviously he does realise he’s being
offensive but to what degree…?
As with the Tarantino interview ....
...(which is easier to defend in terms of journalistic ethics - I do enjoy when Mr T says this "is a commercial for my movie" completely unaware of Channel 4's public service remit or the OffCom codes on the sheduling of advertising but that's another story...) ...he doesn’t seem able to read body language very well ...or perhaps he doesn't know how to hide his own feelings to another person ...get some acting lessons mate ...? …which makes it funny when Downey Jr whose job involves reading body language reads him.
Here's a tip from an ex debt collector... If you want to ask difficult questions that are likely to get negative feedback and which your subject may not want to answer... Ask them quickly when your subject is not expecting them and conceal your own emotions.
Downey Jr seems to claim that it isn’t that he wouldn’t talk about any of this but it’s inappropriate for the audience … which maybe a smokescreen but he seems to be quite frank with Mr Stern … perhaps it’s a matter of trust. Michael Parkinson could get people to say all sort of things that they probably didn’t want without… As for the unloved viper that is Martin Bashir… let’s not go there.
...(which is easier to defend in terms of journalistic ethics - I do enjoy when Mr T says this "is a commercial for my movie" completely unaware of Channel 4's public service remit or the OffCom codes on the sheduling of advertising but that's another story...) ...he doesn’t seem able to read body language very well ...or perhaps he doesn't know how to hide his own feelings to another person ...get some acting lessons mate ...? …which makes it funny when Downey Jr whose job involves reading body language reads him.
Here's a tip from an ex debt collector... If you want to ask difficult questions that are likely to get negative feedback and which your subject may not want to answer... Ask them quickly when your subject is not expecting them and conceal your own emotions.
Downey Jr seems to claim that it isn’t that he wouldn’t talk about any of this but it’s inappropriate for the audience … which maybe a smokescreen but he seems to be quite frank with Mr Stern … perhaps it’s a matter of trust. Michael Parkinson could get people to say all sort of things that they probably didn’t want without… As for the unloved viper that is Martin Bashir… let’s not go there.
Meanwhile Krishnan goes on to moan that the thing that makes
him most uncomfortable about the interview is that the video is the most
watched thing in his very long career where he’s “done so much more”. Ironic really that in dredging up Downey Jr’s
past that he’s always trying to escape …. he’s created his own regrettable past
incident that he’s always trying to escape and people keep digging up. Perhaps this is why someone invented GDPR… As to my own motivation for writing this piece …
Reader, it
is muckraking…
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
No comments:
Post a Comment