Robert Downey Jr. on His Chemistry with Gwyneth Paltrow _ Friday Night with Jonathan Ross

We're now to attempt something that we've never done before on the show. It's going to be a three-way interview, or four ways if you count from here I guess, a three-way interview via the internet into three separate locations in America. What could possibly go wrong with that? I can't think of anything. Okay, we're going to go first to New York, ladies and gentlemen. I want you to give her a welcome as if she just walked through the store because she wanted to be here. It is the fabulous Gwyneth Paltrow. Hi gorgeous, how are you? Gwyneth Paltrow in New York City, live right now as we're speaking. Gwyneth, let me just check, this is genuinely because you actually live here much of the time, don't you, here in the UK? I do and we were in New York for the Easter holidays and we got stranded, we're stuck. So that is genuinely because of the ash, it's not because you took out a restraining order against me from last time you were on the show? No, in fact I thought you were going to call me after the last show but you never did. Changed every one of her numbers. Okay, now let's say congratulations on Iron Man 2. Who's excited about seeing Iron Man 2? Who didn't love Iron Man 1? And one of the things I loved about it obviously was the relationship between you, your character and Tony Stark. You're back as Pepper Potts. It must be fun going back into a movie when you've had obviously a good time making the first one. Also, it's been a huge success. It must be lovely revisiting. I don't think you've done a sequel before, have you? No, this is my first sequel. It was a great experience, I have to say. Working with Robert, there are not enough superlatives to describe and Jon Favreau is such a funny, smart guy and it felt really easy, it was great. We just had a really good time. I don't know anyone who doesn't love Robert Downey Jr. It's a remarkable thing. Of course, you got to work as well with, and he defies people a bit more, but I think he's tremendous. Mickey Rourke, how was it working with Big Mickey? I actually didn't have a lot of scenes with Mickey. I used to pass him in the trailer areas and he was terrifying. He had these crazy dreads and fake metal teeth and tattoos. He was a very, very interesting sight. He looked like a bad guy, but actually in person he's a very sweet guy. He's really nice. You're friends with Madonna. You've seen that kind of look before, I'm sure. She's got bigger arms, I think. Anyway. Hey, Gwyneth, how's life with Chris? How's the band going? What are Coldplay up to? I'm keen. I'm excited to hear some more stuff from them. Are they recording at the moment? What's he doing? Yeah, they're back in the studio. He's really well. He's working really hard and they're all super focused. They seem to be really happy with what they're doing. Good. We're not going to lose him and the band to the States, are we? I know obviously they're super popular here, but I think they get a hard time here sometimes. I don't know if you've noticed this. People are a bit whingy about Coldplay. In America, they're much more welcoming. They're much more supportive. I've got this horrible feeling he's going to think, sorry, I'll move out there. That's not what he's thinking, is it? No, not anytime soon, but you all better watch your mouths, otherwise you're going to lose him. Yeah, because people give him a hard time. Hey, back to Iron Man 2. I've seen the movie. I went to see the film. Bizarrely, I went to see it with my wife, my kids, and David the Haymaker Hay, the British boxing champion, who I bumped into in the street. Now, he loved the movie, I'm pleased to say, but every time your co-star Scarlett Johansson came on screen wearing a very tight costume, he let out what I can only describe as an animal growl. Yeah. She gets to wear the costume. She gets to do the martial arts. You don't have any of that action. I'm hoping if there's a number three, are they going to give you something tight to wear? Are you going to get to kick someone? That would be good. I'm ready to kick some people. Gwyneth, don't go away. We're going to come back and speak to you some more in a minute, but for now, ladies and gentlemen, will you join me in saying thank you to the beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow? Thank you, Gwyneth. Hang around, we'll be back, because now we've got Robert Downey Jr. in Los Angeles, hopefully this will work, ready to talk to us as well about Ironman 2. Let's go over now live to Robert Downey Jr. Here he is now. Okay. Is this the link? Hello. Who are you? I'm Dimitri from Latvia. Who's yours? Well, don't mind who's we's. We want to speak to Robert Downey Jr. You're on our link here. I'm sorry, what are you doing? He's not here. I'm looking for Olga. Well, I don't know who Olga is. What do you want? Do you know what I want? I want you not to move that right hand of yours. He doesn't like you wearing pants. Can we get this down? This is not... Can we find out where's Robert Jr.? Don't take it personally, mate. It's just... We can take that out of the show. Okay, we're going to LA, where hopefully Robert Downey Jr. is. Let's have a look. There he is, ladies and gentlemen. Robert, I'm sorry about that. I don't understand what that was. You've got to be kidding me with this, John. You're not looking for Olga, are you? No, I'm not. Okay. How are you? Looking great. Look at Robert Downey Jr. You look tanned, you look relaxed, you look fit as a fiddle. And I know you're disappointed not to be here because you love this country and you know that the fans here love you, don't you? Yeah, I feel like an honorary Brit having played Sherlock Holmes. And contrary to popular belief, I'm happy to do your show in person at any time. Hey, here's the thing I want to ask Robbie about. Before we talk about Iron Man 2, I loved Sherlock Holmes. And here's a movie you didn't think necessarily was going to work because you've got an American playing this famous English detective. You've got Guy Ritchie, who's more known for kind of modern kind of movies. You've got Jude Law, who I would have thought was a bit too pretty to be Watson. As a matter of fact, sometimes I think he's a bit too pretty to play any man. But it all came together brilliantly. There's one scene I want to ask you about where I got the feeling, and correct me if I'm wrong, that you'd drawn on your training, your experience of playing Charlie Chaplin into Sherlock Holmes. Which scene? You know the scene when he escapes, he climbs down the roof and then he goes to a marketplace to disguise himself. And he does lots of little moves and flicks. And I thought that's very Chaplin-esque. That reminded me of the work you did in that movie with Richard Attenborough. No. Okay. But you are. Apparently the link's going down. We have to go back to Demetri. No, no, not Demetri. Come on, I'm here and I'm real. I love you, John. Okay, now, I've already said this to Gwyneth, but congratulations to you as well for Iron Man 1 and in advance for Iron Man 2. I think Iron Man has been one of, if not the most successful superhero movie of all time. I mean, it's, you know, a real success story. On the one hand, it gives you the chance to do it again. On the other hand, I imagine it's fairly daunting. You've got to match that first one and it's always harder to get it right the second time out of the trap. Yeah, you know, I really don't know much about how things work that way. I just felt like, wow, what a great opportunity. And you're right though, it's a lot tougher to try to recapture something that you don't really quite know how you got the chemistry right there. But again, with my dear Ms. Paltrow, I think that that's half the movie done right there. So, you know, thanks to her. Well, I love the fact that the kind of romance side of it comes out a lot more in this movie and you get a lot more time with the characters as well. Of course, as I said, we have the gorgeous Scarlett Johansson here, but Mickey Rourke is fabulous as the whiplash guy. What was it like working with him? How does he get, does he stay in character? Is he one of those kind of guys? Also gorgeous. Yeah, Mickey was a much more internal type actor. So during his emotive scenes, he would have John holding rosaries and pictures of deceased relatives off camera. I basically show up, drink a coffee and I'm ready to party. But you don't party as much after hours as you used to, of course, do you? How about not at all? Okay, so when Mickey's finished today's work and you see him heading off with a couple of young fans that maybe he's met on the internet, I don't know where he finds them. He's heading off for a while. Like we had Kiefer Sutherland on last week and he invited me out for a drink after the show. Man, did I ever dodge a bullet there. But did you, do you ever, when you see, when you see Mickey going out to cut loose or other people, do you ever feel any regret? Do you wish you could still be doing that? Or are you pleased that that period of your life is just gone? You mean, do I feel regret that I'm not nine sheets to the wind, doubled over in an alley somewhere? Yes, if you want to put it that way. Yeah, sometimes. We're not real, but those days are gone. Hey, what about the suit? The suit is one of the best things about the idea of that character in the comic and it works on the movie as well. If they hadn't got the suit right, the movie wouldn't have worked the first time out. Do you get to keep one? Have you got an Iron Man suit or mask for home use? Oh, home use. I have pieces. I have pieces of it, but it's a pretty costly item and I'm not, maybe they don't trust me. It's not like I would do anything kinky with it. You must have a mask, don't you? You must have the helmet. I got a mask, yeah. Do you know that there's a guy in Canada who spent an awful lot of his own money trying to develop an Iron Man suit? Are you familiar with this person at all? No, please tell me his name. Okay, his name is Troy Hurtubise. Okay, and he was, here's the true story about him. He was savaged by a bear when he was 20 years old. It sounds like a weird comic, doesn't it? He vowed it would never happen again, so he has spent nine years and $150,000 apparently developing this suit. You'd think he'd just stay away from the woods, but no. He's gone the suit development route. Robert, I'm going to talk to you some more. We're going to go back to Gwyneth because you love working with Gwyneth. If there's, I mean, this is going to be a huge success. That's pretty much a given. I know you maybe don't want to say that, but. No, it's a foregone conclusion. This film is going to be massive. Okay, this film is going to be huge. Presumably, are you signed on for a third one with Gwyneth? Do you know if you're both committed? We are committed, and I'm in agreement with you, John. We've got to get Paltrow in a suit, and we've got to show that rocking body of hers, and she's got to tear somebody up. Let's do that. Maybe they can both beat up on you. Let's see that. Right. Let's go back to Gwyneth. Robert, don't go anywhere. Let's see if we've still got Gwyneth over in New York so we can say, Gwyneth, Robert's with me on the suit thing. Are you up for the skin type outfit? Are you ready to go for that? I think I would be fine with Louis' shirt. I mean, he's got all the cleavage in the green room right now. I got nothing. Have you seen the Pineapple Dance Studio show with Louis in? Yes. You know what? That's the only sane response, ladies and gentlemen. You've got to head off. I know, Gwyneth, so we're going to say goodbye to you now, but thank you so much for joining us here, even though you couldn't be here in the studio. I hope to see you again over here sometime in the near future. Congratulations again on Iron Man 2. Thank you. And good luck with the family and everything else that's going on. Ladies and gentlemen, the lovely Gwyneth Paltrow. Thank you.