How to Get the Attention of a Man's Man: Tea and Blinis

Robert Downey Jr., on Sherlock Holmes:

We'd call a story meeting, and Susan (Downey's wife and a "Holmes" producer) and I would just launch into the myriad subjects we need to attack to make the script better and we'd look up at [director] Guy [Ritchie] and his British buddies or department heads. They'd kind of look at us as though they didn't want to make us feel bad but were mildly disgusted with how uncivilized we were about just launching right into work. So I was like, "Susan, why don't we get a cheese plate and a little of that low- to mid-grade caviar . . . maybe somebody wants a blini. It's tea time isn't it? Well, let's see if they want some tea." And no sooner did we start opening our sessions with an offer of a beverage or some food -- as soon as we civilized ourselves -- the floodgates of goodwill opened.