FILM : How Iron Man got ironed out
Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008
NEW YORK — The first moment director Jon Favreau felt sure of himself helming the action adventure Iron Man, he says, “was when I got Robert hired. I saw this shining path in how to make this movie with him. In his screen test, he just crushed it.”
Huh ? Screen test ? Robert Downey Jr., one of the premier actors of his generation, has to do a screen test ?
Yup. The actor, who badly wanted the role of Tony Stark, reports that when he first called Favreau about it, he was told, “Ain’t gonna happen.” He wasn’t an obvious choice from a studio’s point of view. But Downey had other ideas.
“I see so many people screwing up their careers because they won’t do things they think are beneath them,” Downey says. “I got the part about three seconds after the screen test started.”
Based on a Marvel Comics character, Iron Man tells the story of Stark, a wealthy industrialist and inventor who, while observing his technology in action, is badly injured by shrapnel that lodges near his heart. He’s kidnapped, taken to a remote cave in Afghanistan, and forced to re-create one of his most devastating weapons for a group of terrorists. Instead, Tony builds a protective high-tech suit of armor and escapes.
Upon his return to the United States, Tony starts to question the moral implications of carrying on his father’s legacy as an inventor and builder of war machines. Instead, he dedicates himself to building the weapon-embedded suit of armor to use in saving the world from itself. When he wears the red and gold armor, he becomes Iron Man. Downey did three scenes to convince Marvel Studios and others that he was the perfect choice to play Stark. “I could spit them [the scenes ] out in my sleep, I knew them so well,” he says. “Then I made notes on how I would change them. I dare anybody to try to prepare more than I do when I’m in that mode.” Unlike most actors, Downey continues, “I approach this like a race, like a marathon. I’m always trying to prioritize where I’m at right now; I’m my own pit crew. If I have a feeling about something and I follow it, it generally turns out better than if I didn’t. All I can do is accept the conditions, drive fast and try to win.”
ALL ABOARD Tony Stark, says screenwriter Matt Holloway, “is one of the great comic book heroes because he’s flawed and conflicted. I saw the genius of casting Robert, then there was a snowball effect with other award-winning actors.” Among them: Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow. “The reason I wanted to do it was the group of people was so brilliant,” says Paltrow, who plays Tony Stark’s efficient assistant Pepper Potts. “I hadn’t done anything since Proof, when I was pregnant with [daughter ] Apple, and I was ready to go to work. Jon called and explained the character to me and I said sure, I’ll do it.” Terrence Howard, who plays James “Rhodey” Rhodes, an Air Force lieutenant colonel who is Tony’s friend and confidant, was drawn by the thematic possibilities. “People die in Marvel comics,” he points out. “It would not be as dramatic if people didn’t get killed. That’s not realistic — it makes you say Whoa ! Iron Man is for real.”
WHO WROTE THAT ? Despite the best intentions, the shoot, which took place in various California locations, could not be defined as orderly. “Robert never wanted to shoot the script, he was constantly ripping it in half and throwing it against the wall,” says Paltrow, “I learned that improv was a lot scarier in theory than in practice.”
“We scripted it, then brought the actors’ voices in,” says Mark Fergus, one of the film’s screenwriters. “It never stopped changing. Robert raised the bar for us a lot. He was always looking for something more. We’ll take credit for all the good moments, but many of them he made up on the spot. Guys like that make us work harder, make us better.”
“I thought that with a multimillion-dollar movie, the dialogue would be totally planned, but it turns out that the dialogue was the last thing anyone considered,” says Jeff Bridges, who shaved his head to play Obadiah Stane, the shrewd top executive at Tony’s company, Stark Industries. “We’d show up for work, not knowing what we were going to say. Jon is to blame for the success of this. It took me a while to get with the program because it’s not the way I like to work.”
PEPPER AND TONY The improvisation gives the film’s dialogue an offhand realism. Pepper and Tony have some of the film’s best moments in their wisecrackingly adversarial relationship that borders on flirtatious, although Tony enjoys the company of plenty of beautiful women. Among them is Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb ), a Vanity Fair reporter who pounces on Stark as a warmonger but also finds him devastatingly attractive, which leads to her being a guest — briefly — in his magnificent blufftop Malibu home. Which is where Pepper, elegant and correct, delivers Everhart’s clothing — freshly dry-cleaned — and sends her on her way the next morning. “Pepper and Tony are like two kids in a schoolyard,” says Bibb. “She becomes the moral conscience for the piece. That’s what’s fun about Tony’s arc — he goes from having a silver spoon in his mouth to stepping up to the plate.” “ Tony and Pepper have a lot of love for each other, ” says Paltrow. “She’s able to see his potential. She always believes in him. I see Pepper as an intelligent multitasker, nonjudgmental, very giving.” BLOODLESS VIOLENCE But the film isn’t just about relationships. It’s about blowing stuff up, kicking bad guys’ backsides, spectacular special effects. And, with a rating of PG-13 for sci-fi action, violence and suggestive content, it’s not for little kids. There are several tense scenes, especially some involving torture and battle explosions. But, says Favreau, “We were very careful not to be graphic. No blood. It’s a tonal line you have to walk. I made all those calls. It expresses the anxieties we have as a society, which is what comic books have always done.”
What about a sequel ? No one would blurt out an answer one way or the other, but everyone had something to say on the subject: Paltrow: “I would be happy to keep going on with a sequel, to keep working with these guys.” Howard: “I’m pretty sure we’re going to go there. My daughter, who’s 10 years old and had never heard of Iron Man, saw this and said, ‘I can’t wait for the next one.’ The seed was planted well. We’ll see how it germinates. If it produces, we’ll shoot a really great second film next year.” Favreau: “I would love to do a sequel. But I don’t take anything for granted. I’m watching the horizon, not wanting to redo what’s already been done. It’s a very fun medium for a director; you’re the center of this huge universe.” Holloway: “There are threads left open for a sequel; the most interesting thing is Tony wrestling with the demons within himself. A version of exploring the two Tonys would be incredible.” Bibb is the most philosophical: “It was such fun; not all sets are,” she says. “If I never had another experience like this, at least I had it once.”
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