Birdman Director Alejandro González Iñárritu Doesn't Care That Robert Downey Jr. Hasn't Apologized Over "Bright" Comment

In a recent interview, Birdman director Alejandro González Iñárritu touched on comments made about him by Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr.

Speaking to UK outlet The Independent, about his most recent film Bardo, Iñárrituwas also asked how he currently feels about comments made by Downey Jr. in 2015 saying that Iñárritu was "bright" for the director's vocabulary considering his native language is not English. When asked by The Independent if Iñárritu expected an apology at this time, he said "Of course not. Of course not. I don’t expect that.

"I honestly could not care at all. I am completely against what he said but I will defend his right to say whatever he wants. Anything he wants to say is fine, but for me it reads completely the wrong way."

Downey Jr.'s comments came after Iñárritu said that superhero films were a "cultural genocide," in an interview with Deadline in 2014. In 2015, while Downey Jr. was promoting Avengers: Age of Ultron, the actor responded to a question from The Guardian about Iñárritu's comments, saying, "Look, I respect the heck out of him [and] for a man whose native tongue is Spanish to be able to put together a phrase like ‘cultural genocide’ just speaks to how bright he is."

Iñárritu did also share some more thoughts on the film industry as it currently is, saying, "Everything is becoming similar. There is more safety in IPs, remakes, things that already have value in popular culture. Original material is more suspicious every time – no matter how many awards you have."