Robert De Niro Balks On ‘Autopilot Acting’ Question, Walks Out

Is 2015 the Year of Celebrities Getting Huffy at Journalists and Walking Out of Interviews? Following Robert Downey, Jr. and Tom Hardy, Robert De Niro is the latest star to take umbrage at a reporter’s line of questioning. During the UK press junket for his latest movie, The Intern, the actor was offended by Emma Brocke, a Radio Times reporter, when she asked him a question about going into ‘auto-pilot’ on set. De Niro asked Brocke to turn off her recorder, paced the room, accused the journalist of ‘negative inference,’ then ended the interview.

Brocke reports that the actor appeared ‘depressed’ and answered her questions ‘glumly,’ and that when she asked him how he resists going into ‘autopilot mode’ on set [read: how do you live with yourself for taking all these dumb paycheck roles in stupid movies?], De Niro stopped the interview; his parting words were “I’m not doing this, darling.” An extract from the aborted interview:

Brocke: “Wait, but I asked that question to establish how it is you manage not to be on autopilot.”

De Niro: “There’s a negative inference.”

Brocke: “I have to say, now that you’re going on about it, it makes me think you were on auto-pilot and you’re super-sensitive about it.”

De Niro: “You’re probably not even aware that you’re doing it. The negative inference.”

Brocke: “That’s quite a presumption.”

De Niro: “I’m a very good reader of character.”

Brocke: “So am I.”

De Niro: “I’m not doing this, darling.”