Robert De Niro storms out of ‘negative’ interview

Robert De Niro has been branded “condescending” by a British journalist after he stormed out of her interview saying: “I’m not doing this, darling.”
The 72-year-old Godfather star has a reputation for being a difficult interviewee, with some speculating he is shy, while others have concluded he is simply grumpy.
De Niro was recently interviewed by New York based writer Emma Brockes for the Radio Times while promoting his new movie The Intern, but cut the chat short, claiming her questions had a “negative inference”.
Confronted by Brockes as to which questions he had found negative, he replied: “All the way through. All the
way through. Negative inference… The whole way through and I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it, darling… You’re probably not even aware that you’re doing it.”
Asked to identify a specific question he had found negative, he objects to when she had asked him how he avoids going into autopilot when he has been acting for such a long time.
De Niro said: “The question about being on autopilot — negative inference.”
Brockes replied: “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 told her “I’m not doing this, darling,” to which she replied, “I think you’re very condescending.”
The Meet The Parents star exclaimed: “Oh, you think ‘darling’ is condescending?”
Brockes has since told The Independent: “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’.”