Robert Downey Jr. is one committed actor. Just ask Danny McBride.
During a recent interview with GQ, the Righteous Gemstones star recalled an amusing and ultra-meta incident that took place on the set of 2008's Tropic Thunder. McBride said he unintentionally heard Downey taking a piss in between takes…and doing so without ever breaking character.
McBride, 47, said he was given an earpiece to communicate with Downey, 59, and his other castmates; however, the Iron Man star and recent Oscar winner seemingly forgot to turn off his mic before heading to the restroom, effectively allowing McBride to hear everything that went down.
“I guess during one of the takes they had left Downey’s mic on and so I’m sitting up there and I’m like, ‘Oh shit, I can hear what he’s saying,’” McBride recalled. “And he’s like, talking to people, and he was in character the whole time. And then I even watched him walk back to his trailer and saw it from down there and he was talking to himself.”
McBride said Downey even came up with a tune while relieving himself.
“‘I’m gonna go drain the snake, I’m gonna drain the snake,’” McBride remembered Downey singing. “He made up a song about how was going to go piss in character for no one else’s benefit except for his own.”
McBride played explosives expert Cody Underwood in the satire film, while Downey portrayed Method actor Kirk Lazarus as Lincoln Osiris. The role earned Downey a number of prestigious accolades, including an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor.
Downey and McBride starred alongside Hollywood giants like Ben Stiller (who directed it), Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise, and Matthew McConaughey.
“That was like movie star camp for me,” McBride said about filming Tropic Thunder. “This movie that’s massive, there’s a million actors I had seen and had watched and had never met. So it was just sort of like, trying to stay alive and feel like I could hold my own with all of these super talented and successful people. Yeah, it was probably the most insane time I had with anything.”
Elsewhere in the GQ interview, McBride spoke on the possibility of a Pineapple Express sequel.