PARIS: Cinematic super hero and tech genius he may be, but Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. on Monday confessed that unlike co-star Gwyneth Paltrow he can't speak French.

Paltrow, who mastered a British accent for several roles in the 1990s, showed off her linguistic skills at a news conference in Paris, answering questions about the “Iron Man 3” film in fluent French.

But Downey told reporters: “I would have spoken French but I was raised by wolves. I am an animal.

“She (Paltrow) went to all these nice schools... (but) they didn't teach French in jail,” said the star, who years ago spent time in prison for using drugs.

The film, which also features Don Cheadle, Rebecca Hall, Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley as villain 'the Mandarin', is part of the billion-dollar franchise from Disney subsidiary Marvel Studios.

The first two films took $1.2 billion dollars at the box office worldwide.

The latest film was co-produced by a Chinese film company and partly filmed in China.

China has become the holy grail for Hollywood film studios eager to cash in on a potentially hugely lucrative market that boasts the fastest growing movie box office in the world.

In 2011, cinemas in China raked in more than 13 billion yuan (1.6 billion euros, $2 billion), a nearly 30 per cent increase from 2010, the state Xinhua news agency has reported.

“Iron Man 3” opens in France on April 24, in the UK on April 26 and in the US on May 3.