Tony Stark has so many troubles, so many foibles, but only later on did I come to appreciate that. That’ s what makes the character such a tight fit with Downey and it’ s what I respond to now. Once you have everything, what do you really have? And as you sit there sipping your champagne, looking out the huge plate-glass window at the world you essentially own, what’ s really going on in your head?
All the firepower in the world at your disposal and you’ re hanging with chicks getting drunk. It’ s a level of fantasy that I think people really respond to because here is a guy who maintains a conscience even though he essentially has the ability to be a robber baron. He comes around and he says,“ No, I still have the responsibility to do the right thing.”
Tony Stark being grounded in reality is what makes the audience able to relate to the character, correct? I think so. One of the great rules of screenwriting that I learned a long time ago was people tend to respond not just to folks who do their job pretty well but the people who are the best at what they do.
They want to watch people who are the best at what they do and when they see a guy who is so driven and whose mind works so quickly that he’ s already three steps ahead all the time, they are intrigued by just that degree of obsessiveness. But it’ s burning within him; this intensity to unconsciously, almost effortlessly, be the best at what he does.
In what direction did you take the Tony Stark character in Marvel’ s Iron Man? In The Avengers there’ s a bit of an other-worldly element. There’ s a fantasy element and it gets very big and almost flamboyant in its sci-fi aspect. There was an idea to back off a little from that with Iron Man 3 and say this is a stand-alone movie.
We’ re not saying that this is not the same Avengers universe. We’ re saying,“ Okay, he did
Robert Downey Jr.( left) and Shane Black
that last summer but this summer maybe he’ s concerned with something a little less extraterrestrial.”
But at the same time, to make it a thriller that has that pulp element to it, it still has to be framed in terms of the comic book. I think we have a creepy type of menace in this one that is sort of outlandish and comic-book but also backed up against a real world environment of international war, international arms and international terror.
In terms of pacing, is it up-against-the-wall / ticking clock timing in Marvel’ s Iron Man 3? This movie is sort of a crisis movie, which means there’ s an inciting event. You see some swirling around and pieces that you’ re introduced to and you don’ t know quite what they mean or how they’ re going to fall together, but once the inciting event draws them together, you’ re shot off and you rocket along towards the finalé.
It’ s probably about 48 hours or maybe three days for the whole thing, and it’ s sort of a headlong rush and in the midst of it I’ d like to think that the“ crucible element” is that we take Tony Stark and we sort of break him down and we put him through the wringer.
There are parts in this movie where he’ s not so much in the Iron Man suit and that’ s a lot of fun too, when you see him do some action stuff, not as Iron Man, but as Tony. It’ s part of him being broken and having to reassess things, and then stand back up and reclaim what’ s his by the end of the movie.
But that journey is what’ s going to be fun because
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