Robert Downey Jr. says Kate Winslet roasted him for his bad British accent

By Marianne Garvey, CNN

(CNN) — Robert Downey Jr. needs to work on his British accent, according to Kate Winslet.

Besides playing Sherlock Holmes and Charlie Chaplin, he once auditioned for “The Holiday,” opposite Winslet, who asked him what was up with his accent.

Downey Jr. appeared on a recent episode of SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show,” and recalled reading for the Nancy Meyers 2006 holiday comedy with Jimmy Fallon.

“We both got called in just as seat fillers, [Meyers] needed someone to read with the gals and we’re sitting there going, ‘It’s about to happen for us,’” Downey said. “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 said he responded, “I’ll check out now, but I’m taking the gummy bears from the minibar.”

The role went to Jude Law, while Fallon’s attempt went to Jack Black.

“I thought, honestly, I said, ‘If Jack Black says no to this movie, I’m so in,’” Fallon recalled in the same Stern interview. “‘I’ll do it for half his price.’”

Fallon also praised Downey Jr., saying, “I’m sitting across from Robert Downey Jr., and I go, ‘This is the best actor I’ve ever sat across and did a scene with in my entire life.”

“It was mind-blowing for me and it kind of, I quit the business. I never went back. That was the last time I auditioned for a role,” he said.

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