With a record breaking box office already in tow, Iron Man 3 is proving to be the success that Disney and Marvel thought it would be. What is surprising is how strongly critics and audiences alike are loving the movie, something neither side could do for the previous installment. But it’s true, Iron Man 3 is the best of the trilogy (and for my money, a cut above The Avengers) and a big reason for that is writer/director Shane Black. Black gave the series a much needed shot in the arm, while capturing the bright aspects of what made the first two entries work.
“I can only imagine that having worked previously with Robert contributed to him calling me, and asking me aboard this somewhat more ambitious production,” says the writer-director. “To Marvel’s credit, they said, ‘We’ve done the Avengers, we made a lot of money. But let’s not do that again right now. Let’s do something different.’ And they allowed for a different, sort of stand-alone film, where we got to be more character centric and look basically back to basics at what Tony Stark would do next – what was left to tell of his story.”
Anyone who’s familiar with Shane Black’s work knows he mostly sticks to rated-R material, and here’s what he said when it came to adjusting his style; “Tony only said fuck five times in the first draft.”
“That is technically true,” chimes in co-writer Drew Pearce, “and we actually had to have a sit down conversation about the fact that you couldn’t say fuck in a PG-13 movie.” Black continues; “I have no problem with tailoring material to the audience that it’s intended for, as long as you keep the edge, as long as you don’t condescend to that audience, I think that it’s absolutely spot on.”
For as much as Shane Black helped make the first good Iron Man film, Robert Downey, Jr. has been the rock that’s kept this series afloat. Out of all the superheroes that populate multiplexes, Downey is perfectly cast as Tony Stark, elevating the character from Marvel’s B-List to icon.
When asked about the challenges of the third film, the actor stated, “I think the big challenge this time was, you know, these movies are only ever as good as their bad guys. And in addition to what we wanted to have happen with Pepper in the arc that she got that was kind of overdue, was I really wanted it to feel like Tony and Rhodey last time decided that he was an island, and there was this kind of power of their partnership and that expanded in The Avengers. So really all that was left was the movie is only as good as its bad guy, and once we cast Sir Ben [Kingsley], half our troubles went away.”
Mr. Kingsley gave his thoughts on playing The Mandarin with this; “It’s all in the script. Drew and Shane presented us with a wonderful document, and there’s very little straying off the written word. Whenever we do improvise it’s minimal, and just to maybe sharpen one or two ideas that we were playing with on the set, but it’s all there. And I do respond to the written word. I love to see it down there on the page, and it was all there. I tried to give the Mandarin in his political broadcasts a rather unnerving sense of righteousness, and make him almost paternalistic, patriarchal. And that’s where the timbre of his delivery comes from, and weird iconography was there to disconcert and completely scatter any expectations of where he might be coming from.”
And for the ladies, Gwyneth Paltrow has always provided a strong woman to latch on to with her portrayal of Pepper Potts, but this time out she gets much more to do. “Very rarely,” the actress begins, “do you start at one such a distinctive place and end up somewhere else. And I really loved their relationship in the first movie when she was a supplicant, and cleaning up his messes and I loved that. It was very specific, and then, you know, to get all the way to where she is at the end of the trilogy, you know, it was a big transformation. And I think one of the things that I loved the most is that she really steps into her power in all areas. And you do see her as a very intelligent articulate CEO. You see her now in an equal relationship with Tony where she wants her needs met as well while still remaining a very supportive woman in his life. And then, of course, she turns into a super hero or sort of.”
Don Cheadle on his experience making the movie; “It was great to come back this time around and, you know, Shane almost coined and really put a stamp on the sort of buddy action movies where I was clearly in the pocket with Robert. It was great to see the whole movie put together at the end because we’re in such different tracks. I didn’t know what Gwyneth was doing for half of the movie. It was great to see it all put together and say, ‘Oh, that’s what you guys were doing over there.'”
And when asked if he prefers War Machine or Iron Patriot, Cheadle simply stated, “Well, the Iron Patriot is about three kilos heavier. So I prefer War Machine.”
While it’s unclear where Tony Stark goes from here, Downey gave his thoughts on where the franchise may go; “Our stunt coordinator, Marcos Rounthwaite came to me at one point and he said, ‘You see Don just rolled into the room and fired off all those shots miss all these things. Then the guys feel, and then he went exactly where he was supposed to go?’ I said, ‘Yeah, what are you getting at?’ He goes, ‘Nothing.’ The future as usual is uncertain, and I think the great thing is that, you know, we never could have known what and who was going to come together for the third Iron Man.”
Wherever they go from here, here’s hoping they can reunite Shane Black and Robert Downey Jr. for one more go around as the iron clad hero. Iron Man 3 is in theaters now, and deserves every bit of your time and money.
