Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau plan to spend a lot of time with each other.
ComingSoon has an info-filled interview with Jon Favreau about his plans for not just Iron Man 2, but also Iron Man 3. It would be terribly unfair of me to just copy and paste all their hard work here, so please go read it. I’ll give you just a few bits to start:
–Robert Downey, Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) and Terrence Howard (James “Rhodey” Rhodes) are all on board for the sequel and enthusiastic about revisiting their characters. And Favreau will be back on screen as well as behind the camera, with a (possibly expanded) role as Happy Hogan.
–Iron Man’s classic comic book nemesis the Mandarin, the Asian crimelord who sports ten powerful ring weapons (alluded to in the first film through references to the terrorist cell the Ten Rings) will most likely emerge as a primary antagonist, although Favreau is still wrestling with how to address the villain’s mystical origins and fit them into the high-tech world established in the debut film. It’s also possible the Mandarin may not be fully revealed as the “Big Bad” until a possible third film to avoiding overexposing a potentially intriguing enemy.
–Impressed by the use of IMAX footage in The Dark Knight, Favreau’s very open to including both IMAX and 3-D sequences in the sequel.
–The most well-known storylines from the comic book series – “Demon in a Bottle,” in which Stark becomes an alcoholic, and Rhodey taking over the role and armor of Iron Man during Stark’s recovery – are expected to be included, possibly both in the second sequel. Rhodey’s role in the first film was not as expansive as originally intended, and Favreau expects to rectify that.
So that’s just a little bit, read the rest here.
Out of the above-listed, I’m most intrigued by this statement, “Favreau is still wrestling with how to address the villain’s mystical origins and fit them into the high-tech world established in the debut film.” Interesting–people often lump fantasy/sci-fi together, but the latter finds the former an uneasy fit. Can there be magic in a technology based world? Technology is all about reason, rules, and logic; magic is lawlessness, anarchy, and belief in what can’t be known or explained. So thanks, Mr. Favreau, for thinking about this problem.
