Robert Downey Jr. On Jimmy Kimmel’s Joke About Him At Oscars: “I Don’t Care”
Robert Downey Jr. is sharing his thoughts on the Jimmy Kimmel joke about him at the Oscars and seems unfazed by it.
The Oppenheimer actor won an Academy Award for his role in the Christopher Nolan-directed film. Earlier that night, Kimmel made a joke at Downey Jr’s expense and referred to his past struggles with addiction, calling Oscar night “one of the highest points” of his career.
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At the award show, Downey Jr. joked back as cameras caught him reacting by laughing and pointing to his nose while miming to “keep it moving.” In a new interview, the actor was asked about the joke again.
“I don’t care,” Downey Jr. told Esquire. “I love Jimmy Kimmel. I think he’s a national treasure.”
The Iron Man star has been open about his past addiction struggles and in the same interview, Jodie Foster says she was “scared” for him.
Foster cast Downey Jr. in 1995’s Home for the Holidays when he was deep into his addiction and recalled a conversation she had with the actor during filming.
“I took him aside at one point during filming and said, ‘Look, I couldn’t be more grateful for what you’ve given in this film,'” she told the publication. “‘But I’m scared of what happens to you next. Right now, you are incredibly good at balancing on the barstool. But it’s really precarious, and I’m not sure how that’s going to end.'”
Foster said she gave Downey Jr. an opportunity because he was a “genius” and “there was more creativity in his little finger than I will ever have in my whole life but he did not have the discipline.”
“I have faith in people’s ability to change if they want it, and he really wanted it,” she added.
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