Marvel was faced with the challenge of finding a director who could not only handle the technical aspects of executing a large-scale action film, but more importantly could infuse the story with the human element that so dominated the comic book characters. For the creative team at Marvel, the potential list of directors began and ended with Jon Favreau, who had previously directed the films “Made,” the blockbuster comedy “Elf” and the critically acclaimed sci-fi adventure “Zathura.”“We got to know Jon when he played Foggy in `Daredevil,'” recalls Avi Arad. “I liked all the movies he directed, but I was most impressed with 'Zathura.' So many of my friend's kids saw that film five or six times and I kept hearing how much they loved it. Jon is a great storyteller and smart filmmaker with a deep love and appreciation for the Marvel brand and Iron Man character.
“Also,” Arad continues, “to pull this film off we really needed a director who was tuned in to what was going on in the world today, both politically and socially. Jon possessed all of these characteristics.”
For producer Kevin Feige, Favreau fit perfectly into the stable of great storytellers who made the leap to action blockbusters courtesy of Marvel Films. “Jon fits the mold exactly of the kind of director we like to hire for our films. He's done great movies in the past, but this one has the biggest canvas by far. When you have a filmmaker who has the vision and the passion like Jon does, and can bring his unique sense of character to this grand spectacle, you know you'll end up with a Marvel movie that is a cut above the rest.”
For Favreau, the chance to create a new superhero for the screen was one that he couldn't pass up. “I grew up reading Marvel Comics,” he says. “It's an exciting challenge to direct `Iron Man' because he's the biggest character in the original pantheon of the Marvel universe who has never had a movie made about him. I come from the independent film world, and what I like to think I bring to the table is the ability to tell a story in a simple, relatable way that brings out the humor in situations, as well as the humanity of the characters. One of the great assets of Marvel Comics is that the heroes are very human and flawed. Marvel began when the iconography of the superhero was larger-than-life. They were usually flawless paradigms of integrity. But Marvel changed the landscape by creating superheroes with their own shortcomings and a recognizable humanity that is enjoyable and interesting to explore.”
For executive producer Billingsley, a longtime friend and colleague of Favreau's who has served as a co-producer on “Made” and “Zathura,” adapting “Iron Man” played into all the director's filmmaking strengths. “Jon came aboard on `Iron Man' while the script was being developed. Since the Iron Man comic books offer such a vast amount of plots and storylines, it's easy to get lost among the myriad of options available,” observes Billingsley. “But in all the previous films Jon has written and directed there is one common denominator - strong, compelling storytelling.”
With Favreau signed onto the project a year before principal photography was to begin, the director began the long and arduous task of guiding the development of a screenplay based on a Marvel character who had been in existence for over 40 years, with a wealth of available stories from the more than 600 issues published over the years.
Robert Downey Jr as billionaire industrialist and genius inventor Tony Stark in Iron Man.
“What separates `Iron Man' from a lot of the other superhero films is that there is just as much emphasis on story as there is on action,” notes Billingsley. “Jon was given the responsibility of coming up with the best notion of what the story would entail and he really carried the burden of birthing this comic book franchise into a film franchise.”
Screenwriters Art Marcum & Matt Holloway worked with Favreau in hammering out the first few drafts of the script, with Academy Award®-nominated screenwriters Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby brought on later for subsequent drafts. From the start, the filmmakers agreed that the film would concentrate on the origin of Iron Man.
“The birth of a hero is something that is highly enjoyable for audiences to watch,” says producer Feige. “You don't want to delay that too long into the story. The development of a superhero has provided some of the most memorable moments in any of our previous films. `Iron Man' is no exception.”
“When you're creating the origin story of a superhero, you have certain critical responsibilities, one of which is showing how the hero came to be,” adds director Favreau. “This can be a burden, but it also gives a filmmaker the opportunity to allow the audience to become the hero alongside the main character. I personally have the most fun as a viewer when I witness the learning curve of the superhero.”
Favreau continues: “When we were developing the script and coming up with ideas for the structure of the story, there was a natural tendency to want to get the character right into action with the suit and to fight but, for me, the more engaged you are in the story, the more interested you will eventually be in those set pieces and the more gratifying those sequences will be to the audience. In writing the script, we made sure to spend time with the character as he is discovering the technology, refining the suit and learning how to use it.”
Another task for the filmmakers was updating the origin story to the present day. In the origin story of the Marvel comic, Tony Stark was an anti-communist hero who was shot down and captured while visiting Vietnam to observe his new mini-transistors that were being used to assist the U.S. war effort.
“The origin story had to be redeveloped to reflect new technology and the changes in the political, social and economic landscapes in the world today,” says Favreau. “What Stan Lee wrote as science-fiction back in the 1960s is currently modern science. We have become so advanced in our technology that things you can buy in a drugstore now would have been the subject matter for a sci-fi film back in the days when Iron Man first entered the Marvel universe. The character of Tony Stark was a larger-than-life character with a conflicted nature who finds his true purpose when he becomes Iron Man. We wanted to keep the basic origin story structure, but tweak it so that it reflected the present day.”
For the writing team of Fergus & Ostby - Academy Award nominees for best adapted screenplay for “Children of Men” - one of the challenges in developing the screenplay was that, although the character of Iron Man had legions of fans in the comic book world, the property had not crossed over into mainstream pop culture, and required a story that would satisfy hardcore genre fans as well as audiences who had never been exposed to the character.
Fergus found his moment of clarity in the writing process courtesy of Favreau and Billingsley. “Early on in one of the writing meetings with Jon and Peter, we sat down and just asked, `If we had to boil this movie down to one sentence what would that be?'” recalls Fergus. “After a few deliberations we came up with 'Iron Man' is a story about a man who finds his heart.' The idea behind a movie should always be something you can really boil down to a singular theme that is easy to understand. When you break down the character of Tony Stark, he really is a man who learns to feel and connect and to accept responsibility for his role in the world.”
“Tony Stark is a good-looking, charming guy who enjoys fast cars, big parties and beautiful women,” says producer Arad. “He is also an extremely brilliant scientist, inventor and weapons manufacturer. He is having way too much fun living his James Bond-like lifestyle to consider that what he does actually has profound global implications.”
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