As the May 2nd release date for Iron Man approaches, the New York Times profiled the rehabbed Robert Downey, Jr., who talks about Tony Stark’s demons and ultimately, his own:
“It has struck me lately that I don’t have to talk about last century at all,†he said with a dismissive wave. But he does so, obliquely.
“I have a really interesting political point of view, and it’s not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can’t go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. You can’t. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone else, but it was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics every since.â€Â
(Suffice it to say he is not one of the Hollywood types who weeps over innocents trapped behind bars.)
Note that Paramount and Marvel are trying to lower expectations for the movie:
Marvel’s best-known comic book character. And the star Robert Downey Jr has never been able to open a movie. And Jon Favreau soiled his rep as Elf‘s hitmaker with Zathura. Plus, right-wing types might consider the whole plot of the movie to be lefty. And the Iron Man action figure toy sitting on my desk is cheezy beyond belief. And the beyond-hot video game Grand Theft Auto IV is released April 29th. I could go on and on…
That is not the first report on the script being an attack on the Military-Industrial-Complex. But the marketing has been smart enough to warrant a piece on the Onion News Network. And Downey is not responsible for the script. The profile suggests he is responsible for himself, which is a marked improvement.
(h/t Worldwide Standard.)
The script will likely be a fairly typical “Oh no! I made guns – must right my wrongs!” batch of nonsense. Terence Howard has made some comments about it that would seem to suggest a theme in which government nastiness and involvement with weapon dealers/private contractors will be exposed…wouldn’t be surprised. But Downey is great, Jeff Bridges is generally fun and the effects and theme of the character will get me to a theater for one of the rare occasions that it’s still worth going.
(Besides, I’ll already have been playing GTA 4 for a couple evenings by that point, so I’ll need a change of pace.)
There’s actually an article at Entertainment Weekly discussing whether GTA4 will affect Iron Man ticket sales.
I liked him ever since at least Weird Science. It’s really nice that he’s not one of them I think.
NG is taking the news kinda hard though.
I hope he makes it.
When did they take Tobey Maguire out of that role?
The quote got trunc’ed. In full, it was “Even the execs say this is not exactly Marvel’s best-known comic book character.”
My six-year-old girl wants to see it. That’s how cool it looks. It’s going to rock the box office.
I’m concerned cause it containeth Gwyneth. I’ve managed to avoid that whole Gwynethness for some time now. It’s a good feeling.
Gwyneth? Ewwww. And the Chris Martin thing isn’t helping.
The script everyone rags about (and links to) was apparently a pre- pre- pre- version of the script. We won’t know which was the real one unless somoeone leaks or we wait until the movie comes out.
But urban legends never die, no matter how many times you shoot them or cut them up with a chainsaw.
Personally, looking forward to Iron Man – it pretty much has to be better than average, given what average is in Hollywood.
I’ve always liked Tony Stark. He was unapologetic about his massive wealth, his womanizing, his boozy ways. I’ll see it, and if they slip in some crap about the military-industrial complex being the big nasty force for evil in the world (and not the vicious afghani warlords who put shrapnel in stark’s chest in the first place,) I’ll pretend that it’s not an overplayed cliche that I’ve seen in every movie since 1958 and enjoy the ‘splosions, what with my need to play up my hypermasculinity.
When did they take Tobey Maguire out of that role?
That’s what I was thinking. There’s Superman (DC), Batman (DC) and then Spidey. Ask a hundred 9 year olds who their favorite comic book super hero is (male) and chances are you’d get those three – and only those three – as answers.
I’m not sure about the conflict between GTA4 and Ironman, but I will say I noticed something last night…
I finished up “Assassin’s Creed” — screaming “YOU BASTARDS!!!” at the abrupt, sequel-promising, ending — and watched the credits. It was longer than most movie credit rolls. I think creative talent is starting to flock to video games over movies. Sure, most video games are dreck — but most movies are dreck, too.
(BTW, as… frustrated… as I was at the ending, I highly recommend “Assassin’s Creed”. Enjoyable, visually stunning, challenging but doesn’t force you through any particularly stupid sequences, and an interesting story. Quite an interesting plot, actually. Not as deep as even an average novel, but deeper and, IMHO, more interesting than most movies.
And how often do you get to hunt down and slaughter half a dozen book burners?)
In fairness, back in the ’60s when Marvel’s comic book characters were first brought to Saturday-morning TV, Iron Man and Captain America were the first ones I remember. Then The Hulk, and only later Spider-Man.
I liked Iron Man too, though his back-story on the show in those days wasn’t quite so juicy, I don’t think. The ’50s weren’t really quite over yet for the people who ran TV.
[…] his picture well. Word is the suits would have preferred someone younger or more bankable than the rehabbed Robert Downey, Jr.  Fans of the comic book, however, immediately saw him as perfect to play the […]