After the production completed its work at Edwards Air Force base, it returned to the Playa Vista Stages, where production designer Riva had built and designed spectacular sets to bring the lavish world of Tony Stark to life. First on the agenda for the production was shooting in Tony's workshop, which also served as a garage for his exotic car collection, as well as the place were he creates the Iron Man suit and tests out all of the different components that go into designing it.“The workshop is where Tony secludes himself,” explains Favreau. “In the film, we suggest that all the innovations and inventions that come out of Tony's mind usually start here. Sure, he's got his office at Stark Industries, but the workshop is where most of his work happens at 4:00 in the morning.”
“Jon was very specific about Tony Stark's garage,” says Riva. “He didn't want it to be super high-tech, which is something of a contrast to the usual comic-book vernacular. Films like these usually go to that place where everything is super high-tech and computer generated. But we decided early on to make it a real guy garage, more of a grease monkey approach. French presses - no, that's not a coffee machine - and drill presses, metal benders from the '50s, forges, welders and plasma cutters. A little like monster garage, that kind of vibe. Later, inevitably some of the high-tech stuff started creeping into the set - some of the producers were getting lonely without their `toys.' Overall, it still maintains that hot rod garage feel.
“Jon's own vintage Ford Roadster is the centerpiece of the garage. It stands in for the car that a young Tony and his Dad worked on together when his dad was alive. Just before we were to begin construction I felt the space was shaped a bit too conventionally, so at the last minute I added this big curved axis to the one giant exterior wall overlooking the ocean. The effect is to have all this really hard-ass, high-testosterone equipment contrasted by this round, soft, elegant curve.”
“The workshop was always the most important set for me,” says Favreau. “Tony Stark is a bit of a gear head, and the workshop is the space that tells you he's a guy who likes working with his hands. I'm completely intrigued by people who can fabricate and build cars, and I love watching reality shows about car building. It was a way for me to include a hobby of mine into the character, as well as making it believable that he could make the Mark I in captivity. Michael Riva did an excellent job of creating a workshop, a mix of high-tech and low-tech that would be any car builder's dream come true.”
In the film, the workshop houses an array of classic and state-of-the-art cars and bikes, including Tony Stark's vehicle of choice, a 2008 Audi A8, as well as a Saline super-car, a 1967 Shelby Cobra, a Tesla electric car and a 1932 Ford Flathead Roadster belonging to director Jon Favreau.
“I thought it would be cool to put my `32 Ford in the movie as the car Tony is always tinkering with,” laughs Favreau. “But then we shot a scene where he was working on the engine and the crew had to take it apart. There were parts everywhere and all I kept thinking was, `Why did I do this? They're never going to be able to put it back together correctly.'”
In the film, the workshop also serves as the spot where Tony Stark starts constructing what will eventually become Iron Man's Mark III armor.
“Part of our approach to making `Iron Man' feel realistic was to show the elements of the suit coming together,” explains Feige. “After building the Mark I in captivity, Tony uses the same technology to develop a high-tech suit. The first step in the process is building a set of boots that have repulsor technology thrusters on the bottom that enable him to fly. Stan Winston and his team constructed a really cool skeletal version of the boots that matched what could be underneath Iron Man's armor.”
The boots would also find Downey in them when the filmmakers made the decision to shoot it with the actor actually flying through the workshop set. “I've done wire work both as an actor and a director, and even if you use computers to paint everything out, there's something about the physics of it that is unconvincing to me,” says Favreau. “I was very skeptical if we could do any wire work at all because if you can see the pick points, it takes the audience out of the movie.”
The challenge of finding an alternative solution fell into the capable hands of stunt coordinator Tommy Harper, who brought in the company Zero G to build a state-of-the-art rig that would enable the filmmakers to avoid traditional wirework. “I already knew that Jon doesn't like when its looks like an actor is being lifted by wires,” explains Harper. “So we came up with a new system that has what's called an 'endless' wire that goes through two pulleys in a bar above Robert's head. That goes down through two more pulleys on his hips and into two platforms under his feet. So as his feet move, it moves above his head, and he can move independently because he is actually being lifted by his feet and not by his hips or back.”
The stuntman continues, “The problem with it is like doing isometrics. It's very taxing on the legs and upper body, because it's like holding yourself as rigid as you can for six or seven minutes. It's very difficult, but Robert had been training in order to get his muscles toned for it. After the visual effects guys put in blasts from his hands and his feet, it will really look like he's being propelled around.”
“I had a few hours training up on the rig for the sequence and the learning curve was pretty steep,” admits Downey. “I do a lot of martial arts training so that really helped me to control my body in the reductive kind of way that was required. The hardest part was remembering that you have propulsion on the bottom of your feet and in the palms of your hands. So every time you move in a certain direction, you have to limit that movement with your hands and feet in order to generate the kind of propulsion that stabilizes Tony as he flies around.”
Producer Feige was impressed with the actor's ability up on the wire rigging. “Downey is a pro across the board,” says Feige. “He is an amazing actor and he really put in the time required to master the technique. It's a great scene because, early on, Tony Stark moves in a way that shows he needs to test his boots and gauntlets abilities, which was very funny. But then, as he begins to master the technology, he starts to move around and fly in a completely heroic manner - which is the birth of Iron Man.”
Tony Stark continues to refine the suits' technology, which eventually results in the high-tech, sleek, sophisticated, red and gold Mark III armor. The Mark III armor that has become synonymous with the Iron Man character was created, designed and built in partnership with Stan Winston Studios, Phil Saunders and Adi Granov.
“The Mark III suit is a character in the movie,” says Favreau. “Tony Stark takes on a different character when he's wearing the suit and he's able to do things he would never otherwise dream of doing. The suit gives him the personality of a hero and I really wanted the Mark III Armor to look like it just stepped out of the comic book and onto the big screen.”
Illustrator Phil Saunders recalls the initial design concept process for Iron Man's Mark III armor: “Jon sent me a sketch he had commissioned Adi Granov to execute, which was an interpretation of the suit from 'The Extremist' series of the comic book,” says Saunders. “Adi's design was pretty amazing, but they'd been living with that design for quite some time and wanted the suit to have a little bit more of a stealth design. Whatever innovations I would come up with were sent to Adi, who would do an aesthetic pass on everything because he has a particular way of smoothing everything out and getting all the lines to flow with this beautiful proportion that everyone in the comic book world really admired.”
Saunders continues, “Once we got a design that was pretty solid, I did elevations of traditional three-view - top, side, front and back - illustrations of the suit that we then sent to Eddie Yang at Stan Winston Studios. He took those designs and used them as templates to build a 3-D model. Then both Adi and I worked with Eddie in refining every single surface to make sure that the proportions and the detailing matched the filmmakers' vision of the suit.”
“Phil Saunders and Adi Granov did a fantastic job of finding the right proportions for the Mark III suit,” says executive producer D' Esposito. “In the comic book industry there's what is called 'heroic' proportions - anywhere from eight to ten heads tall for a human figure. This looks fantastic in a comic book, but freakishly alien if translated literally into the film world. Jon was very concerned that the look of the suit be utterly convincing. When Tony Stark puts on this suit, he doesn't just become a man in a powered suit, he becomes an iconic character, so it was very important for the suit itself to have a heroic level of personality as well as make us believe there's actually a human being inside of it.”
With the design concept of the Mark III in place, Stan Winston Studios' Shane Mahan began the process of building the suit. “'Iron Man' was interesting because there was already a series of design ideas in place, so our job was to bring them into our world and render them functional,” says Mahan. “The big challenge when we first started was the fact that they hadn't cast anyone to play Tony Stark. They had conceptual drawings of Iron Man that fit a certain body type. So we spent many weeks building and sculpting a 3-D model in the computer. We were also able to take those computer models and rig them internally so we could do motion studies even before we had physical parts. This allowed us to see what parts of the suit were going to be troublesome so we could make adjustments accordingly.”
Conceptual designer Saunders was impressed with Stan Winston Studios' technique in developing the physical parts of the suit. “The real thrill in working on projects like this is seeing it come to life,” says Saunders. “The process that Stan Winston Studios took from 3-D modeling worked extremely well. They used a system called 'polygonal modeling' where you start with a very faceted surface that procedurally becomes smooth to a much more accurate surface. They were able to create some absolutely fantastic surfaces, so when they started milling the parts, every single surface was absolutely perfect.”
Mahan summarizes the steps and materials involved in creating the Mark III suit: “The design process in a nutshell is conceptual art which is turned into a computer model that's mathematically precise to the scale, then a full-scale one-to-one replica was rapid prototype grown, then those parts were perfected, body-shopped and molded, and castings are made and set into the construction of the suit.”
Mahan continues, “In the process of creating the suits we used a multitude of materials that included lightweight epoxies and urethanes and a great deal of actual chrome surfacing with substructures that are metal because you have to make these suits strong enough to withstand four months of filming, but light enough for a person to move around in.”
For Mahan and his team at Stan Winston Studies, the next challenge was making sure Robert Downey Jr. and the various stuntmen would be able to fit and function in the suit they were constructing.
“For Robert to be in the Mark III suit was a culmination of a great many steps because we had to take a design that is non-human in some of its proportions and fit actors and stuntmen into it,” says Mahan. “We were forced to reverse-engineer the suit because we didn't have Robert's body cast to build the suit over - joint-for-joint, measurement-for-measurement. The digital build and design of the suit was 95 percent complete before Robert was even cast in the film. We actually built the structures in the computer so that they're mathematically perfect and grew those parts in a process of rapid prototyping. Then we made the pieces and fit them around him and made them work and actually move. I was very happy with the results because the suits are quite athletic.”
The finished Mark III armor was the culmination of a truly collaborative effort of many talented designers, technicians, craftsmen and filmmakers. “The Mark III suit is a life-size, three-dimensional prototype of something that you've only seen in a comic book until now,” says executive producer D'Esposito. “It is the comic book character come to life, which really is a testament to Marvel, Jon Favreau, Stan Winston Studios and all of the incredibly talented people on the production team that helped conceive, design and build this iconic Iron Man armor.”
“Shane Mahan likes to build behind a curtain generally, so it's a pretty magical experience when the suit's completed and rolled out,” says Billingsley. “When you see and touch it for the first time, you feel a combination of excitement and fear because it's very real and you hope all the research was right and the textures, colors and proportions are on the money.”
Any fears were laid to rest when Robert Downey Jr. slipped into the Mark III suit for the first time on-set. “Seeing Robert in the suit for the first time was like watching a kid in a candy store,” says Feige. “He looked amazing and had all of the enthusiasm of a little boy. Then, he suddenly stood up and you could see the hero forming within him.”
“The first half hour of being in the Iron Man suit is like being in the coolest Halloween costume ever,” smiles Downey. “You're putting the suit on and you catch a glimpse in the mirror and you go, `That's right, Grandma would be proud.'”
The process of putting the full suit on Downey would take Mahan and his two assistants approximately 30 to 40 minutes. As shooting progressed, Mahan and his team modified the suit and also created a rubber stunt suit to free Downey from the physical restrictions of the more cumbersome full suit.
“The great part about the stunt suit was that it was built to be able to move around and look the same as it does when it's in a computer-generated form doing more acrobatic movements,” says stunt coordinator Harper. “The difficult part was that for close-ups, we had to have a suit that held up in the camera. The hero suit we used for these shots was very heavy and restrictive, which made it a bit torturous to wear for extended periods of time, so we had to rotate several performers in the suit, with Robert being one of them.”
“As we got into the meat of the shooting schedule, I realized I could wear the full suit all the time, but that I couldn't always wear the full suit and be an effective actor at the same time,” says Downey. “You only have so much charge in your batteries every day, so I would wear a half-version of the suit or one of the stuntmen would jump into the fray when it wasn't critical for me to be in the full suit.”
“From my point-of-view Robert was essential to the suit performance because he instructed me or any other member of the suit crew as to what he needed to make his performance better,” explains Mahan. “We were happy to take a bicep or the lower legs off so that he had more freedom of movement, because in the end it's all about performance and if we needed to do something to make the actor more comfortable, that's what we did.”
Whether playing Tony Stark or his alter ego Iron Man, Downey was up to performing as many of his stunts as he could, which also impressed Harper. “Robert kept wanting to do more and more of his stunts and I had to keep reining him in,” laughs Harper. “He had taken the baby steps in preparation for one of the bigger pulls and one night we pulled him out so hard his feet went above his head. He flew into the pad pretty hard and got up and was like `pull me as hard as you want.' My job was a give and take of `you can do this, but you can't do that,' and from the get-go he was nothing but a gentleman and a class act.”
When Downey wasn't performing in the heavier and more restrictive full Mark III armor, he wore partial pieces of the suit, allowing him to move more freely during the action sequences. It was then the visual effects supervisor John Nelson's responsibility to work with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the film's primary visual effects house, and Stan Winston Studios in blending the practical suit worn by Downey and the stunt team with the computer-generated Iron Man suit.
“Jon Favreau is very much about invisible visual effects supporting the story,” says John Nelson. “We talked a lot about stressing what the suit could do and not just creating a shot to show off the effects. Jon had a sign over his office that said `plausibility,' so that was our guideline in developing how we were approached the film from a visual effects standpoint.”
“What I like to do is strike a balance that mixes the visual effects with practical effects so audiences start to forget where one begins and the other ends,” says Favreau. “Sometimes that means cutting from one shot of Iron Man wearing the real suit to another that's completely a computer-generated image (CGI). What that does is force the people building the practical suit to make it move freely enough that you would believe it could be CGI, and it makes the CGI people honest because they have something practical to match it to.”
For Shane Mahan and his suit design team, this required making a suit that could be worn in sections over the visual effects suit Downey wore.
“The big challenge was trying to find ways to blend, cross-cut and inter- cut combinations of practical and CGI shots,” says Mahan. “It would be absolutely foolish for me to think that I could pull off every shot in the practical suit, so we created a combination for Robert consisting of the chest piece, helmet and arm sections combined with a full-body motion capture tracking marker suit underneath. It's a great way to blend the practical with the computer-generated effects, enabling ILM to bridge any gaps between the physical pieces.”
Visual effects supervisor Nelson enlisted the services of industry heavyweight ILM to handle the majority of the visual effect shots. Since 1975, ILM has been providing post-production visual effects services to the entertainment industry. Motion pictures, commercials, trailers, music videos and special venue projects have utilized ILM's unequaled artistry in techniques such as model making, matte painting, computer-generated imagery, digital animation and a variety of related processes required in the production of visual effects. Groundbreaking software required for digital image production has been developed and shared with the industry at large and adopted by other companies and software manufacturers. ILM has been associated with 14 movies that have earned the Academy Award® for Best Visual Effects and has been awarded 17 technical achievement awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“In the past I've always steered away from using CGI whenever possible because I felt that it sometimes takes you out of the reality of the film,” says Favreau. “But in the case of a movie like 'Iron Man,' there's no way to make it without using CGI.”
Favreau continues: “ILM has once again emerged as the flagship digital house for CGI animation. Their groundbreaking work on the `Pirates of the Caribbean' movies, as well as the technology they developed for `TRANSFORMERS,' made them confident that the digital effects would integrate seamlessly with our practical effects. Iron Man is the star of our movie and we needed an effects house with strong animators to bring that character to life in a way that would not distract from our story.”
In addition to ILM, Nelson also brought aboard the visual effects houses The Orphanage and The Embassy. “We endeavored to find the right people for the right sequences and raise the bar a notch,” says Nelson. “The technology is opening up right now, which allowed `Iron Man' to be made the way Jon Favreau wanted it. With large-scale visual effects movies, it's hard to provide a big spectacle that's plausible. Our goal was to shoot as much stuff practically as we could and add CGI extensions with multiple layers of different elements. We felt the more we combined techniques, the stronger it would become. We tried to go the extra mile so that audiences can watch and say, `Wow, that suit looks cool.'”
“John Nelson won an Academy Award for `Gladiator' and really did an excellent job of working within the parameters and constraints that I presented him with,” says Favreau. “I didn't want any effects that looked like they couldn't be achieved by a real camera. When Iron Man is flying I wanted it to feel like he is operating under the same laws of gravity and aerodynamics as a real airplane. We looked at a tremendous amount of reference material, and tried to bring a lot of reality to it. Hopefully that's going to bring a very cool aspect to the movie.”
Another character created by the combined efforts of Stan Winston Studios, John Nelson and ILM was Iron Man's nemesis in the film, Iron Monger.
“The history of Marvel includes not only tremendous heroes but great villains,” says executive producer Billingsley. “In Marvel films the villains are virtuous, so behind every great villain is potentially something you could agree with or understand, but the means by which they go about it are evil and have to be stopped.”
“Creating a great villain requires two things,” says producer Avi Arad. “One, there has to be some connection between the villain and hero. Secondly, a great villain has to be ruthless and stop at nothing to win the battle. There have been great villains throughout the years in the Iron Man comic and we picked Iron Monger because he has a connection to Tony and is as ruthless as they come.”
Stan Winston Studios built the massive practical suit, which included a clamshell center hatch.“The Iron Monger suit is 10 feet tall and weighs approximately 800 pounds,” says Shane Mahan. “We developed and built it during the course of filming and used it to help bridge the character into the digital world of ILM and John Nelson. A gimbal was also built, which allowed us to push it and mimic the actions of the big torso walking.”
Mahan continues: “It takes up to five operators to operate the Iron Monger when you're using both arms. We have had a couple of instances where we've been able to put both arms on and do manual puppeteering to accomplish shots as well. The Iron Monger wasn't built as a hydraulic character, so it's basically human muscle, a gimbal and our stuntmen making it work.”
“I love how the Iron Monger suit echoed the Mark I suit,” says Favreau. “It felt like a machine and a living character at the same time. To see it built in real life was very helpful. I felt the scale of the thing as I stood before it. It was a very successful design and served as a terrific jumping-off point for the animators at ILM.”
For actress Paltrow, the physically menacing Iron Monger suit was quite impressive. “I couldn't believe how big Iron Monger was when I was standing next to it,” laughs Paltrow. “I just think the whole effects thing is amazing - it's like an art and a science at the same time.”
With two full units working simultaneously to create the story of “Iron Man,” director Favreau reflects on the challenges he faced in bringing a new comic book franchise to the silver screen. “The biggest challenge was keeping everything in order in my own mind,” says Favreau. “This is the type of movie where you have a first unit with actors, as well as a second unit, an effects unit, a splinter unit and an aerial unit, all of whom are doing their own things. I got to be the conductor of this great orchestra. In directing this type of film it's really about keeping everybody marching in the same direction at the same time to present a unified vision.”
For Downey, Favreau's unflappable presence in the face of adversity was truly impressive. “Jon brought everything to this film and is the primal force behind `Iron Man,'” according to Downey. “He's easily half the character of Iron Man and he really infused himself into every department. I don't want to say he's a gentle giant because he's very formidable, but he is the most composed person in a position of unimaginable stress that I've ever seen. He's so gracious, and so evolved.”
Paltrow concurs. “Jon is truly an actor's director and he's brought a real sense of truth and humanity to the story. All my scenes are between people and Jon is a real fan of the actor, so he's always very encouraging and has an amazing temperament on the set. He takes all of the stuff that is thrown at him in stride and I have a lot of respect for him as a director and, more importantly, as a human being.”
For Billingsley, Favreau's strength as a director lies in creating an environment on-set that is truly collaborative. “The crew and technicians we have on this film are people who have so much experience and have brought many award-winning films to the screen. The mistake that can be made sometimes is constricting your crew, and not allowing them the freedom to inject their own creativity into the process. Jon is always open to an idea from the group he has assembled, and generally it's our policy that the best idea wins. In addition, he's also a very talented actor so he really understands and knows how to manage actors. When a scene's going great, Jon equates it to when a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter - you don't talk or mess with them. You just let the actor continue to discover and, if anything, guide them slightly. Ultimately, Jon is the barometer of the movie that allows these people to really do what they do best.”
When production came to a close, the talented cast reflected on their experiences in making the action adventure. “I had a great time making this film and I think audiences will really enjoy this film,” says Jeff Bridges. “It has exciting action, thought-provoking themes and will have people talking after the film about some interesting philosophic questions.”
“I think this film is incredibly entertaining and it's definitely going to thrill audiences with all of its action and excitement,” adds Paltrow. “The added value is that the scenes were really well-written and there's a lot of stuff going on - I mean, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man is just so exciting to me, I would go see it.”
“I'm hopelessly in love with this film and so proud of everybody who was part of this experience,” says Downey. “The film has it all - a great story, great cast and probably one of the best crews I've ever worked with.”
Principal photography on “Iron Man” concluded at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. For the filmmakers, cast and crew, the experience left them feeling like they had all shared in a magnificent creative journey. “We assembled the finest crew, many who have worked on Marvel films in the past,” says producer Feige. “We've also assembled the most talented cast, and when you see that Marvel logo go up, you know you're in for a fun roller coaster ride. 'Iron Man' is an action adventure, a summer thrill-ride in which audiences will get to see the birth of a superhero and Marvel's newest franchise character.”
“I truly feel that this was one of those rare opportunities where the combination of what everyone brought to the mix elevated the film so much that it exceeded my greatest expectations,” concludes Favreau. “It's a real balancing act of infusing the film with a fresh vision while still staying true to the genre. I feel we made a solid film, one that will appeal to a broad audience as well as the comic book readers who grew up with the character.”
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