Christopher Nolan was “a little afraid” of Robert Downey Jr. when they first met

Christopher Nolan has responded to Robert Downey Jr.’s recent viral comments, revealing that he was slightly “afraid” of the actor when they first met.

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The actor – who has been nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Nolan’s latest movie, Oppenheimer – revealed that he had met with the director in the early ’00s in hopes to play the villain Scarecrow in Batman Begins.

Downey shared that Nolan didn’t seem interested in casting the future Iron Man star, saying: “He was polite and all that. But you can tell when someone is kind of like, “It’s not going to go anywhere.’”

Now, in an interview with the actor for The New York Times, Nolan has confirmed the story.

“I 100 per cent knew you weren’t the guy,” said Nolan, who ultimately went on to cast Cillian Murphy in the role of Scarecrow.

“In my head that was already cast. But I always wanted to meet you,” said the director. “I was a huge admirer of yours and therefore selfishly just wanted to take the meeting. But I was also a little afraid of you, you know.”

He continued: “I had heard all kinds of stories about how you were crazy. It was only a few years after the last of those stories that had come out about you.”

During the late ’90s, Downey Jr. was found at the centre of some legal issues, getting in trouble with the police on more than one occasion.

In 1996, he was arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded gun. The following year, he missed a court-ordered drug test and spent six months in jail as a result. After missing another drug test in 1999, the actor was sentenced to a three-year prison term.

A week after his release, Downey Jr. joined the hit TV series Ally McBeal, for which he was nominated for an Emmy and won a Golden Globe.

Earlier this month, Downey Jr. said that Margot Robbie is not “getting enough credit” for Barbie.

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