With screenwriters Fergus & Ostby continuing to refine the screenplay under Favreau's supervision, the filmmakers began the search for an actor who could capture the essence of the larger-than-life leading character, billionaire industrialist and consummate playboy Tony Stark.“Tony Stark is a figure that is famous and has a lot of notoriety both positive and negative,” explains Favreau. “His face has been bannered in newspaper headlines many times before he ever becomes Iron Man. He's been involved with weapons manufacturing for years but suddenly realizes the ramifications of what he does for a living. It's like waking up one day and realizing you're a bad guy when you always thought you were one of the good guys. On the surface he seems to have it all, but Tony Stark is a very complex character who goes through an internal crisis in the film.”
In casting the role of Tony Stark, the filmmakers went against the grain in casting Academy Award-nominated actor Robert Downey Jr.
“Robert Downey Jr. wanted to play Tony Stark as much as I wanted him to play the character,” recalls Favreau. “He wasn't the most obvious choice from a studio's point-of-view, but Marvel gave me the freedom to cast the best person for the role. In Marvel movies, the superhero image is the big star and they've had a lot of success in the past when they've hired people who were strong, interesting actors, and relied on the name of the brand itself to be the rallying cry from a commercial standpoint. This allows you to attempt to make the best movie possible, and when Robert Downey Jr. came on board he became a true partner creatively.”
For Downey, the chance to play Tony Stark and slip into the red and gold armor was a childhood dream come true. “I'm an American. I love Marvel Comics and grew up reading Iron Man and Spider-Man,” affirms Downey. “I have always been drawn to Iron Man because he had amazing ingenuity and intelligence. Superheroes are great, but superheroes who manufacture weapons and then build a suit of armor that they wear and can fly around in makes for the ultimate `nerdgasm,'” he laughs.
On a more serious note, Downey continues: “He's someone who's conflicted for the right reasons, and who doesn't recognize his potential until he starts to live in accordance with a moral code; it's a great time-honored theme.”
For producer Kevin Feige, Downey fit into Marvel Studios' formula of casting talented actors who truly embody the characters they play. “Tony Stark is a unique comic book character with several different layers,” explains Feige. “He is flawed, but also brilliant, funny, extremely talented and likable. When you talk about talented actors in Hollywood, you inevitably wind up talking about Robert Downey Jr., one of the best actors of his generation. I couldn't be more excited to have him in this film. When you combine Robert's acting ability with the adventure and spectacle of the comic book genre, you end up with something that is bigger than the sum of its parts.”
“Casting Robert just felt perfect,” adds screenwriter Fergus. “It's a slightly off-beat choice, but Marvel has a cool and visionary way of casting its films. When the casting is announced, people usually react with, `oh that's interesting,' and then it turns out to be more than interesting. It turns out to be perfect and people can't imagine anybody else in the role. Marvel's really adventurous like that and I think that audiences really appreciate it.”
For Downey, who was actively involved in the creative development of the film and script, the days of preproduction also included an intense regimen of weight training and martial arts in order to prepare him for the physical demands of playing the character.
“About a year ago I decided that I really want to put on some size, which isn't easy when you're approaching 40,” observes Downey. “I felt that if I was ever going to do a movie like `Iron Man,' I had to do it quickly before it became embarrassing being the guy in tights with the flabby body. The first thing I did was tons of strength training, because I'm not a kid anymore and you must first get your tendons, bones, and subcutaneous muscles strong enough to deal with the weight you're going to be lifting. It was really about survival for me, and all the hard work in preproduction wound up giving me the strength to do the movie.”
Favreau was impressed with his lead actor's hard work in the weight room. “Robert really went the extra mile and trained heavily to make his body look the way it should to play a superhero,” says Favreau. “He took the role very seriously, not just in the physical sense, but also in his understanding of what made the character tick. He found a lot of his own life experience in this character and he had a firm understanding of the role and the film before we started shooting.”
With Downey busy preparing for his starring turn in the film, the filmmakers focused their attention on casting the film's other central roles.
In the film, as the leading manufacturer of weapons, Stark Industries has enjoyed a long and prosperous relationship with the United States Government and the Air Force's leading military advisor, Lt. Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes. Following a successful military weapons demonstration in the Middle East, Rhodey and Tony Stark's convoy is attacked by a group of insurgents. During the intense battle, Tony is wounded by shrapnel and captured. Although the Department of Defense gives up its effort to find him after a few months, Rhodey refuses to stop searching for his lifelong friend and confidant. In “Iron Man,” Rhodey is played by Terrence Howard. An Academy Award® nominee for his role in “Hustle and Flow,” Howard jumped at the opportunity to perform opposite Downey. “Getting the chance to work with Robert Downey Jr. attracted me to the role more than anything else,” reveals Howard. “I first saw him in `Weird Science' and thought he was hilarious, and then when he did `Chaplin' I realized he was a genius.”
For Downey, the feeling was entirely mutual. “First of all, Terrence Howard looks great in an Air Force uniform,” laughs Downey. “Terrence is a top-drawer actor and it's no mistake that he has become such a sensation over the last few years. One of the definitions of a genius is someone with a lot of character and we really needed a strong spirit to play Rhodey. Tony Stark is such a dynamic character that if Rhodey was merely his sidekick it wouldn't work. Rhodey had to be his equal.”
As Howard sees his character, “Rhodey is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force who acts as a liaison between the acquisitions department and Stark Industries. He gets a lot of grief for not going into the private sector, but Rhodey is the one guy who is always there to protect Tony's interests, often times against his own better judgment.”
Tony's other trusted ally is his crafty executive assistant Virginia “Pepper” Potts, an indispensable part of the eccentric Stark's life. Never one to shy away from an argument, Pepper is always there to put out the fires that Tony often leaves burning in his wake. The filmmakers knew they'd scored a major coup when Academy Award® winner Gwyneth Paltrow decided to take on the role.
“Casting Gwyneth as Pepper Potts was really an inspired choice and we all felt extremely blessed that she accepted the part,” says executive producer Louis D'Esposito. “She is such a fantastic actress and from the first time we watched her in the room with Robert, it was electric.”
For Paltrow, the decision to join the cast of “Iron Man” was an easy one. “I grew up with Marvel comics around the house because my brother loved Spider-Man from a very young age, but I had never been in a film of this size or scope. When I heard Robert Downey Jr. was playing Iron Man and that Terrence Howard was also in it and Jon Favreau was directing, I said `I'm in.'”
“In the comic, Pepper Potts is Tony's secretary who fawns over him a bit,” explains Favreau. “We wanted to update the role based on Gwyneth, who is sharp, poised, and classy. Pepper Potts keeps Tony in line and on track, and organizes his life. There is a yin and yang between them that culminates in a bit of a romantic tension. We wanted to explore that dynamic a bit, because it really wasn't necessarily fully defined in the original comic.”
“There definitely is an underlying sexual chemistry between Tony and Pepper, but it's more about what they don't say than what they don't do with each other,” observes Paltrow. “Pepper is the closest person in Tony's life and is really his lighting rod. She protects him, takes the hit for him when he screws up and keeps him on time and as responsible as she can. Tony is a genius and is able to create all these amazing things, but, like many artists, he's not very good with the pragmatic side of his life, and that's where Pepper steps in and whips him into shape.”
When Tony Stark is captured and held prisoner by an unknown enemy, the reins of Stark Industries are turned over to his top executive and right-hand man, Obadiah Stane. A confidant and advisor to Tony's father Howard Stark, Stane is a shrewd and calculating businessman who is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done.
To play Obadiah, the filmmakers cast one of Hollywood's most successful and distinguished actors, four-time Academy Award® nominee Jeff Bridges.
“As a child I was a big fan of comic books and one of the things that really made me interested in doing `Iron Man' was Jon Favreau's desire to make a film that was really grounded in reality,” asserts Bridges. “He wanted people to be able to watch the film and believe it would be possible for him to build a suit and maybe that could really happen.”
The actor continues: “Obadiah is an interesting name, so I Googled it and discovered that it is the shortest book in the Bible. It's only a couple of pages, so I read it and it's all about retribution, of which there is a great deal in this story. I wonder if Stan Lee knew that or if it was just a total coincidence.”
“Jeff Bridges was truly the first and only choice to play the part of Obadiah Stane,” says Billingsley. “He is such a tremendous actor, a chameleon in all the roles he has played over the years. He has an amazing body of work and we knew he would bring an intensity and realism to the role of Obadiah Stane.”
Billingsley's words rang true when Bridges expressed his willingness to shave his traditional thick head of hair in order to look more like the comic book character. “I've never shaved my head before, but I have always wanted to,” reveals Bridges. “I always thought that someday a part would come along and I'd have to do it. When I saw the comic book character, I said `oh well, here is my chance to finally do it.' I spoke to Jon about it and he said `we feel like you don't have to shave your head.' I really wanted him to say, `Oh yeah, you have to shave your head.' I had really long hair prior to this film so we kind of chipped away at it, took it down a few steps at a time until, finally, we took the plunge and shaved it all off, which instantly transformed me in an Obadiah-like way.”
“When Jeff Bridges walked into my office after shaving his head and growing a beard, it was as if Obadiah Stane had walked out of the pages of the Iron Man comic and was standing before me,” says producer Feige. “The resemblance was uncanny. He could have pulled off the role with a different look, but the fact that he was willing to do whatever it took to become this character really spoke volumes about the kind of actor Jeff is and why you want to have him in your film.”
When Tony is captured and held captive in a dark and cavernous cave in the mountains, he encounters another prisoner of war named Yinsen, played by the versatile Shaun Toub. A medical doctor, Yinsen, keeps Tony alive long enough for him to build an RT device that prevents the shrapnel from piercing his heart.
“Yinsen is a worldly man who speaks many different languages,” says Toub. “Although he originally comes from a very small town, he has traveled the world. When Tony Stark is brought into the cave, Yinsen operates on Tony and removes as much of the shrapnel as possible. The irony is that the shrapnel that remains in his chest is from a bomb that Stark Industries built.”
While Tony is secretly building a suit of armor in the cave, Yinsen must defuse the increasingly hostile Raza, the ruthless leader of the insurgents. Played by Faran Tahir, Raza has captured Tony and is forcing him to build a Jericho missile, Stark Industries' newest and most powerful weapon.
Tahir, an avid Iron Man comic reader, explains his character's motives for capturing a high value target like Tony Stark. “Raza is part of a secret alliance and is given the assignment to abduct and kill Tony Stark,” he says. “Tony's almost dead after the attack, but Raza makes a deliberate choice to have him revived because he is a valuable asset and he wants to get an incredible weapon out of him. If Raza can possess this weapon, his caché goes up so much that he can rule the entire region.”
Playing the role of Christine Everhart, a beautiful young investigative reporter, is Leslie Bibb. “Tony Stark is interviewed by a lot of people, but there's something about Christine that strikes a nerve in him,” says Bibb. “In the script, she becomes his moral conscience and lets him know `This is what you're doing and these are the results of what your company produces.' In her mind she sees Tony as a war profiteer, but at the same time she is completely smitten by his charm and charisma and can't resist spending the night with him at his ocean-side mansion.”
Rounding out the talented cast of “Iron Man” is Sayed Badreya as Raza's lead henchman Abu Bakar, Clark Gregg as government agent Coulson, Bill Smitrovich as Air Force General Gabriel and Jon Favreau as Tony Stark's chauffeur Happy Hogan.
With casting completed, the filmmakers reflected upon the extremely talented cast they had assembled for “Iron Man.”
“I think this is the best cast that we have ever assembled for a Marvel film,” claims producer Feige. “Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges are all Academy Award® nominees or winners. This is an ensemble that you only dream about, but we were able to land all four of these extremely talented actors, which is really something special and Marvel couldn't be happier.”
“With `Iron Man,' I really wanted to offer the human side of the story that is more in line with my sensibilities as a filmmaker,” says Favreau. “I would be thrilled to have our cast in a drama or a comedy, but to be able to have them in a bigger-than-life superhero film really offers the possibility to exceed people's expectations. Superhero films have been very successful recently, but I really wanted to push the envelope and go for something a little bit more interesting, and having a cast like we do really affords me the opportunity to achieve that.”
No comments:
Post a Comment