Veteran actor Robert De Niro has never been known as Mr. Congeniality to media personalities, but neither has he been reported to be rude or difficult to deal with either.
However, the actor had his fill recently with a British journalist and decided to walk out on their interview after she became a "negative inference" on him.
De Niro is on his promotional tour for "The Intern," which he co-starred with Academy Award-winning actress Anne Hathaway. He was talking to Radio Times reporter Emma Brockes, who asked him how he resists going into "autopilot" mode on the set.
She also commented about New York's Tribeca district having been taken over by bankers, and after this, De Niro requested that she pause her tape recorder.
"He then pops up out of his chair, starts pacing madly and says he's cutting short the interview because of 'negative interference' of what I just said," Brockes wrote in her article for the Radio Times about a "depressed" De Niro.
When she further asked him to be more specific about his "negative inference," he reportedly answered back: "All the way through. Negative inference the whole way through, and I'm not doing it, darling. You're probably not even aware that you're doing it, the negative inference."
Brockes also said that earlier in the press junket, Hathaway started crying during a roundtable discussion when they were discussing what an honor it has been to work with De Niro. For her, the actor appeared "baffled and vaguely appalled" by Hathaway's emotional outburst.
"The Intern" is written and directed by Nancy Meyers, and it features De Niro as the 70-year-old apprentice named Ben to Hathaway's online-fashion-retailer CEO named Jules.
In an earlier interview with PEOPLE, Hathaway said that she was really "awed" to be working with De Niro.
"I've been a fan of his for such a long time and was so excited to work with him," Hathaway said. "All of us on set were really awed by him but he's so sweet and unassuming, and a little goofy, that we all relaxed eventually."
Just like in real life, Jules is awed by Ben, who is sort of like her "guardian angel."
"Jules is super smart - a little intense and uptight with a brain that never shuts off," she shared. "Ben comes into her life and understands her immediately. Moreover, he likes all the things about her other people find strange and a little off-putting."
