Robert De Niro Walks Out Of An Interview After He’s Called ‘Condescending’

Infamous for his reluctance with the press, actor Robert De Niro walks out of an interview with a Radio Times reporter, Emma Brockes, after she asks him about topics that she claims made the actor angry. The 72-year-old Oscar winner is currently doing press for his latest film, The Intern. He famously gives very few interviews, and when he is interviewed, he gives simple yes or no answers, making an interview from him difficult to get.

Brockes gave the Guardian a detailed account of the events that happened before De Niro walks out of the interview. She claims two topics she asked him about were what lead to him walking out on the interview.

First Emma asks Robert if he thinks the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City, where he co-founded a film festival, has been overrun by bankers. She also asks him how he resists the temptation to go into “autopilot” mode when on the set of a film.

Brockes then claims Robert asks her to pause her recorder, jumps out of his chair, begins to pace, and says he’s done with the interview. When she asks him why, he says her questions are leading to “negative inference” and cites this reason repeatedly.

“All the way through. All the way through. Negative inference,” De Niro reportedly says.

Emma says his reaction “amazed” her and that she was only asking about his methods as an actor and wants to know how her questions were negative.

Robert reportedly answers, “The whole way through and I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it, darling.”

Brockes admits she then lost her cool and tells him she thinks he’s “very condescending.” She says he asks her if she thinks “darling” is condescending. Not long afterward, he walks out of the interview.

Emma tells The Independent she didn’t mean to lose her cool.

“I have sympathy with De Niro because nobody wants to be there for these choreographed junket interviews. I was expecting him to be a little quiet but the combination of hostility and condescension irritated me and I ended up losing my cool. I certainly didn’t go in looking for an argument but when it happened I did think ‘at least he’s finally saying something.'”

In an email exchange with the Huffington Post, Brockes again expresses her sympathy with Robert’s hectic schedule, but also admits it makes it difficult on her end.

“I have a lot of sympathy for the actors–those junket schedules are brutal, as I’m sure you know. It was a long day for everyone. I thought he was terrific in the film, and I quite admire his refusal to play the publicity game, but it does make things tricky from my end.”

Before CNN’s Piers Morgan did an interview with De Niro, he was given advice by one of Robert’s close pals to ask open-ended questions. Morgan was told if he didn’t, then De Niro would answer with only a “yes” or “no.'”The Daily Mail reports Morgan called the actor the “hardest star to interview.”

Brockes agrees, stating, “He has a great skill in closing down even the most open-ended questions.”

In The Intern, Robert plays an intern to co-star Anne Hathaway’s fashion website. The film is already receiving negative reviews, such as the Hollywood Reporter describing the film as a “middling star vehicle.”

Robert De Niro isn’t the first actor to walk out on an interview, and he certainly won’t be the last. What do you think when an actor walks out of an interview?

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]