Man In The Iron Mask
Last updated: 02/05/2008 - 10:21
Get ready for a new (Iron) Age as Marvels’ man of metal crashes onto movie screens everywhere.
One of Marvel's best-selling titles the Iron Man character has a long and rich history – in his own book (Invincible Iron Man) and as a crossover figure into numerous other Marvel titles.
Over the years since the characters’ co-creation by the powerhouse team of Stan Lee (one of the two men behind Spider-Man), Larry Lieber, Don Heck and the legendary comics’ artist Jack Kirby in 1963 these have included hero team-up titles such as The Avengers, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D and of course: Invincible Iron Man.
Multi-Millionaire
The film finds multi-millionaire industrialist Tony Stark forced to create a life support suit to keep him alive after an accident and later decides to use the technology in his suit to fight crime.
Directed by Jon Favreau the new feature version stars Robert Downey Jr. (TVs Ally McBeal, Chaplin, Natural Born Killers) in the Tony Stark/Iron Man role, Gwyneth Paltrow (Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow, Sliding Doors, Slyvia) as his secretary Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts, Jeff Bridges (The Fabulous Baker Boys), Leslie Bibb (TVs Popular) and Terrence Howard.
Speaking at the film's premiere in London's Odeon Leicester Square Iron Man himself - Robert Downey Jr. - had this to say about what the fans can expect from the new movie as a different kind of superhero movie: “...with Christian Bale in the whole Batman franchise...they did this very dirty, dark complex take on the superhero. And we thought they did that as good as it can be done so we tried light and simple...Tony is a self-made superhero. He’s the first one to make no apology in his inventions.”
Co-star Gwyneth Paltrow (pictured above, left) - whose impossibly high heels and tiny almost-there dress threatened to steal the limelight from the actual star of the film at the premiere - was asked whether she’s as organised in real-life as the character she plays in the movie. “Well I try to be. Sometimes I stress myself out trying to get everything so organised. In the last couple of years I’ve tried to get rid of the perfectionism. But I do like to have things organised.”
Gwyneth Paltrow continued: “I wasn’t really a big comic book fan until I got signed up for this film and got to understand the whole world and the imagination. Then I got really into it and got really into reading comics...it’s a real honour to play her, someone who’s been in the hearts and minds of the Iron Man fans for so many years. I guess I read a lot of the comics and try to understand who she was, what motivated her, what kind of woman she was.”
'B-list' Hero?
Director Jon Favreau explains his take on Marvel's man of iron: the comic book fans have been the people I have to thank for the movie coming up to this level. A year or two ago, when I started working on this movie, people didn’t know who Iron Man was, they thought he was someone 'B'-level Marvel hero. Nobody really cared about a movie like this, there were already enough superhero movies and now because of the fanboy support and their appreciation of the casting and the way we designed the shoots and the trailers put together, it’s slowly built up on the internet into a sensation where everybody seems really excited about the film, so I appreciate their involvement and how helpful they’ve been.”
Q: What makes Iron Man an unusual superhero?
A: “Well, Marvel heroes have always been a little off beat and Iron Man has always been an outsider among the crazy off beat superheroes so there’s only one guy to go to and that’s Robert Downey Junior because you want a guy who brings a good sense of humour, spontaneity, an unexpected sense of authority and somebody who would make people who wouldn’t normally go to see a superhero movie come and see a superhero film and Robert Downey really takes that off and makes it into something very special.”
Q: What made Robert Downey Junior your choice for the role of Iron Man/Tony Stark?
A: “It’s the role of a lifetime for him. A lot of people thought Chaplin was but I happen to think that this guy was destined to be Tony Stark, because Robert’s grown up in the public eye – everything good and bad that’s happened to him in his life has been everybody’s seen and Tony Stark he’s also a guy who’s grown up in the public eye. He’s a genius and everyone respects his talent. The fact of the matter is that Robert Downey Junior is a great improviser and has a great sense of humour and he finds the real humanity in something that could otherwise be a two-dimensional comic book figure.”
Q: Iron Man is a 'genesis' movie - focusing on that familiar comic-book sub-genre the origin tale. Why was this decided as the take on the character?
A: “Well whenever you have a movie that deals with the origin of a hero you have to lay all the ground work out so we tried to integrate it into the movie so it didn’t feel like you were watching two different movies, like the beginning of the movie where he becomes the hero and the end of the movie where he fights – we wanted to connect the movie so it came across as one unified piece.”
Q: What can audiences expect?
A: “Hopefully they’ll get some laughs, hopefully they’ll get some excitement and hopefully they’ll see some great performances by our wonderful cast.”
Terrence Howard summed up - for him - the appeal of the Iron Man character: “You have Superman and superheroes, but anyone can become an Iron Man – any woman, any boy any old man that has the tenacity to create something from seemingly nothing. Limitations are our achievements. That’s the genius of Tony Stark to take something simple and make it great.”
Possibly a film that could never have been realised well without modern computer generated imagery (without looking very silly indeed) Iron Man is just the latest in a long – and seemingly ever expanding – line of characters leaping, swinging and flying out of the pages of Marvel Comics legion of superheroes and into other media.
The impressive Iron Man statue at the film's premiere at the Leicester Square Odeon in London. Photo by Jo Hale - Paramount Pictures International.
Marvel
With a library of over 5,000 characters, Marvel Entertainment, Inc. – the corporation behind the Marvel Comics imprint - is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies. A vast organisation built on the creative success of over sixty years of continuous comic book publishing Marvel now produces feature films (including the blockbuster Spider-Man trilogy starring Toby McGuire and Kirsten Dunst, Ang Lee’s The Hulk, two feature films starring The Fantastic Four, not to mention Daredevil and Elektra), as well as products for the DVD/home video market, consumer goods and collectables, video games, action figures and television series (see below), to name just a few areas of interest.
Here's what some of the critics have made of the film so far:
"It’s not sure where to go once the final Iron Man suit is constructed, and seems in a rush to get there, but Downey Jr. and the supporting cast are so perfectly placed we're already looking forward to the bound-to-be-better sequel." - Dan Jolin (Empire Magazine).
"Despite the convulsively jittery address to the role, [Downey] is never in the smallest degree engaging in the way director Jon Favreau appears to think." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian newspaper).
"Iron Man is the first blockbuster movie of the summer, and, despite the topical Taleban atrocities, it’s a roaring fairground ride." - James Christopher (BBC).
"Had it been released ten years ago, Iron Man might well have gone down as a comic book triumph. Now, it just seems like the product of everything the popcorn superhero genre has achieved over the last decade: next to be shipped off the Marvel production line with box-office tug guaranteed by snazzy trailer and hefty budget." - Ed Holden, (MSN Movies). Click here to read the whole review.
"Based on yet another Marvel series, Iron Man has plenty of things going for it, the main assets being an enjoyably sardonic Downey, his hardware, and the downturned mouth of his new metal visage - a warning that this self-styled messiah means business." - Tim Robey (The Daily Telegraph newspaper).
"...Tony decides to dress-up as a thunder-thighed cyberman in an armoured suit with which...he intends to rid the world of warfare..." (Metro newspaper).
"Finally, someone's found a sure-fire way to make money with a modern Middle East war movie: Just send a Marvel superhero into the fray to kick some insurgent butt...Iron Man isn't principally about this fantasy, but it won't hurt at least American audiences' enjoyment of this expansively entertaining special effects extravaganza...It's refreshing, for a start, that the character suddenly endowed with superpowers isn't a dweeby teen, but rather a pushing-middle-age genius who is himself entirely responsible for the advanced means he acquires to combat his adversaries; even more than the latest incarnation of Batman, he's a self-made superman." - Todd McCarthy (Variety magazine).
"Sporting a novel brand of superhero, with dollar sign desperation written all over it, Iron Man's got goofy Downey Jr. typically wisecracking his way through unlikely feats with all the determination of someone who just wandered in from the corner bar." - Prairie Miller (NewsBlaze).
"Light on both CGI and moral quandaries, [it posesses] neither the zip and sparkle of a Spider-Man nor the brooding existential subtexts of Batman Begins." - David Jenkins (London listings magazine Time Out).
"Despite several adrenaline-pumping moments, Favreau and Downey stay focused on the real story - about a man learning to take responsibility for his actions. For all its firepower and CGI slickness, that's what really makes Iron Man fly." - Frank Lovece
(Newsday magazine).
"In place is a talented cast, an interesting director, an established lead character, and a wealth of plots from the comics ready to be mined for future storylines. Despite Iron Man's problems, it will definitely leave you wanting more." - Orlando Parfitt
(IGN Movies UK).
"It's as if someone snuck a hefty slug of bourbon into your cherry cola; all of the sugar and flavor and fizz you expect from a well-made comic-book movie are there, but there's something a little more grown-up going on behind them." - James Rocchi (Cinematical).
Iron Man Facts:
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For more information visit the official movie website at: www.ironmanmovie.com
Iron Man is in cinemas now, rated PG.
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Hi there.
Just came across your website (through DCMS link). Nice to see you're still going, is this the same as the older website? Looks quite different. Was browsing about looking for extra info on what films were in the cinemas to find somewhere air-conditioined in the heat, and went to see Iron Man, so thought I'd let you know what I thought...
Lots of CGI - especially good in the aerial combat sequences (very reminiscent of a similar one in the 70s/80s comic book ROM The Spacenight - anyone remember that?), be surprised if they didn't have a copy somewhere in the film production office.
Not too keen on Downey Jr - always comes across as a bit smarmy and insincere for me (he did in Ally McBeal, he did in Natural Born Killers, okay, he didn't in Chaplin, but there's always seems to be that hollywood wise-guy to all the characters he plays - maybe it's just me. What works here is he's playing the same kind of character to begin with. Sort of trading on that. Then, when he becomes Iron Man it's the character recoginising that the way he's been living is on the wrong side of things, and he becomes instantly more likeable as a character. Even if his barking mad plan does seem like he's just watched the risable Superman IV (The Quest For Peace) and thought he's the man to do a tin-plated re-run...
Gwyneth Paltrow has very little to do excpet look great, stare through her secretary specs and look doe-eyed in a lab coat. But a million fan-boys will be happy with that I'm thinking. Will we get n Electra-style Pepper spin-off movie rather than a Iron Man sequel? My money's on Iron-Girl...I think Mrs Coldplay would be a sure fire hit in a body-formed gold and red suit, taking the franchise in a new direction away from the comics continuity, don't you?
Won't spoil it for those who've not seen it, but don't leg it out of the theatre when the titles roll - there's a real treat for comics fans just at the end of the credits, which might mean we'll be getting more superhero crossovers in the films from Marvel in the future.
Cheers.
Robert P., posted on 12/05/2008 at 09:41