Robert Downey Jr. has become one of the most powerful players in Hollywood. But the 48-year-old actor admits he's not much of a networker. "I think about people, and I have a conversation with them in my head, " he says. "But I tend to not reach out." In an interview about his career and the future of the movie industry, the Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes actor tells Fortune about the real-life discussions (Elon Musk!) that have influenced his thinking about technology, business, and entertainment. Edited portions of the interview will appear in the January 13 issue of Fortune; a lengthier excerpt of the Q&A follows.
小罗伯特•唐尼现在已是好莱坞最有影响力的明星之一，不过这位现年48岁的演员却坦承自己并不是个善于交际的人。他说：“我会想人际的事，我在脑袋里跟他们说话，但我往往不会主动去认识别人。”《财富》杂志（Fortune ）日前专访了这位钢铁侠和福尔摩斯的扮演者，请他谈谈自己的事业以及电影行业的未来，采访中他谈到了埃隆•穆斯克是怎样影响了他对科技、商业和娱乐的看法。经过编辑的采访文稿将刊登在1月13日的《财富》杂志上，以下是比较长的一段采访节选：
Q. This isn't the first time your image has been on the cover of a business magazine. Tony Stark's face has graced the cover of a few news titles.
问：你的照片出现在一本商业杂志封面上，这已经不是第一次了，《钢铁侠》主人公托尼•斯塔克的脸已经上过不少头版了。
A. Yes! I wanted to close the circle.
答：对！我想有个完满的结束。
Elon Musk has been compared to Tony Stark, and parts of Iron Man 2 were filmed at a SpaceX facility. Did you ever meet?
问：经常有人把埃隆•穆斯克与电影《钢铁侠》的主人公托尼•斯塔克相比，而且《钢铁侠II》的部分情节就是在穆斯克的太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）里拍摄的，你俩见过面吗？
The genesis of that goes back to preproduction for Iron Man I, when SpaceX was in a smaller facility and Elon Musk was not a household name. As part of my research, I wanted to interview two people: John Underkoffler [the chief scientist at computer interface company Oblong] and Elon. I thought it was really interesting that he literally had decided to become a rocket scientist. And although the similarities kind of end with a certain -- what would you say? -- just an amazing self-agency, you know, that I think Elon really embodies. I was looking to Under¬koffler for straight technology [advice]. You remember in Minor¬ity Report, the character is wearing those gloves and moving the screens around? He and his company built that into a reality, so I was taking some cues from him: If Tony had designed his own software and his own programs and the machinery to operate them, what sort of language would he design to be able to ma¬nipulate his environment? And over the course of all these mov¬ies, that's been as much a part of Tony's character as anything else.
答：这还要追溯到《钢铁侠I》的准备拍摄阶段，当时SpaceX公司还在一幢更小的楼里，埃隆•穆斯克当时也还不像今天这样家喻户晓。我当时在为电影做功课。我很想访问两个人，一个是约翰•安德考夫勒（电脑界面公司Oblong的首席科学家），另一个就是埃隆•穆斯科。他真的决定成为一名火箭学家，我觉得这非常有意思。托尼•斯塔克和埃隆最像的地方就是一种惊人的自我能动性，它在埃隆身上表现得非常明显。我之所以想见安德考夫勒，是想从他那里获得一些纯技术上的建议。你还记得《少数派报告》（Minor¬ity Report）吧，影片里的人带着那种手套可以把屏幕移来移去的，安德考夫勒和他的公司把这种技术变成了现实，所以我想从他那获得些启发：如果托尼•斯塔克设计了他自己的软件和程序以及运行机制，那他会设计一种什么样的语言来操纵他的环境？在这几部电影拍摄的过程中，不仅托尼的角色要求这些，其它环节也一样。
The spirit of Elon was really inspiring to me because Tony goes from doing one thing so well and so successfully, and goes to do something that's a lot more risky and much more far reaching.
而埃隆的精神对我很有启发，因为托尼•斯塔克也是把一件事做得很好、很成功，然后又去做另一件风险大得多、意义也重大得多的事。
And then in the second Iron Man, Tony Stark has a conversation with Elon Musk about doing a project together. I think it's electric jets if I'm not mistaken.
《钢铁侠》第二部中，埃隆•穆斯克还在电影中客串了一把，与托尼•斯塔克在电影里一起讨论了一个项目，如果没记错的话应该是电动飞机。
Were there any other business leaders or powerful people who inspired your performance?
还有其他商业领袖或成功人士给了你的表演以启发吗？
There's a little bit of Howard Hughes in there. But in this character, in this potential franchise, I saw a huge business op¬portunity for myself. What was required of me was to put myself forward in a different light than I had been previously imagined, and to imagine being perceived as a bit more dashing, a bit more masculine. Essentially you aspire to a persona that puts you into a different light, which you can equate to more opportunity.
霍华德•休斯对我也有一点影响。但当时从这个角色中，从这部片子里，我看到了自己的一个巨大的商机。我需要的是把我自己放到一个跟我以前想象的不一样的角度上，想象把我塑造成一个更有闯劲、更硬朗的人。实质上就是想要塑造一个不同的人物形象，它能给你带来更多的机会。