Robert Downey Jr. recently revealed that popular Hollywood actress Kate Winslet once roasted him for doing “the worst British accent.”
Appearing on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show alongside Jimmy Fallon, Downey revealed he and Fallon both read for the 2006 Christmas classic The Holiday opposite Kate Winslet.
However, playing English comic actor Charlie Chaplin three years prior to The Holiday‘s release, Downey Jr says he didn’t impress with his British accent.
“We both got called in just as seat fillers… [director Nancy Meyers] needed someone to read with the gals and we’re sitting there going, ‘It’s about to happen for us’,” Downey Jr explained (via Entertainment Weekly).
“And I was like: ‘I’ve got to have a better English accent than Jude Law at this point.’ And Winslet said: ‘That is the worst British accent I’ve ever heard.'”
Downey Jr then shared his response to Winslet’s roast: “I’ll check out now, but I’m taking the gummy bears from the minibar.”
Downey Jr read for the role that would ultimately go to Jude Law, while Fallon read what would be Jack Black’s role. Speaking about the experience, Fallon said: “I thought, honestly, I said, ‘If Jack Black says no to this movie, I’m so in. I’ll do it for half his price.'” He also praised Downey Jr, calling him “the best actor I’ve ever sat across and did a scene with in my entire life”.
Meanwhile, Downey Jr can soon be seen in what he’s called “the best film I’ve ever been in”: Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, in which he plays Lewis Strauss.
“I cannot wait for you all to experience it,” Downey Jr said at the film’s premiere earlier this week.
“No matter what your expectations are and what you might think, it transcends them. This is what a summer blockbuster, when I was growing up, used to be. It just kind of changed your life. But again, it’s why Christopher Nolan is who he is.”
Oppenheimer is set to hit the theatres this Friday, July 21.
