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Iron Man Week Ends
2008-05-05 17:54:39

A day late but not a dollar short (did you see the excellent box office estimates?), here's the wrap-up on our IRON MAN WEEK coverage.

As has now been revealed on a couple of other websites, back around last December a group of us--myself, Joe Q, Axel Alonso, Ralph Macchio, Brian Bendis, Mark Millar and one or two others--were invited out to the West Coast for a brainstorming session with Jon Favreau and the Iron Man production team. We spent the better part of two days touring the production offices, seeing all of the assorted designwork for the characters, sets and props. It was especially gratifying to me to see all the stuff being cribbed from the six-issue "Extremis" arc I'd edited--and of course, Adi Granov, the artist for that storyline, also did production design for the film.

We also got to walk around on an enormous soundstage, within which sets were being constructed for the film. The soundstage itself had once been the hanger in which Howard Hughes had built and stored his enormous Spruce Goose plane, a fact that resonated well with Tony Stark and his own dreams of innovative construction. The set team was in the process of erecting the network of caves where Tony Stark is held captive, and in which he builds his first suit of armor. We were told that, during their lunch hour, members of the production crew would stage mock battles with squirt guns and Nerf weapons while racing through and around the set.

But the centerpiece of the whole visit was a massive round-table discussion and dissection of the latest draft of the screenplay. We'd all goten to read it the previous day, and it was already in pretty solid shape--I'd say that it was about 85% the same as what we saw in the finished film. Jon Favreau, as you'd expect, was both witty and charming, and seemed entirely open to all sorts of input from the gang. I didn't contribute much of value--just one observation about a sequence that didn't make it into the final picture--but we tossed out all kinds of crazy ideas and observations and thoughts. At one point, we spent literally ninety minutes debating whether Tony and Pepper should kiss at the end of the film or not. And while I don't think anything we said in-and-of itself changed the course of the movie, it was all listened to, and was factored into the thinking of those involved with actually shooting and cutting the picture.

The guy who most impressed me was Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, who took us all out for a great steak dinner. It hadn't been all that long at that point since Kevin had stepped into the shoes of Avi Arad as the lead guy at the studio, but it was clear from the conversation around the table that he was sharp, well-spoken, and clearly loved movies.

I know it sounds like I'm just blowing smoke, but take a look at what Brian and Mark have to say about that trip over on their boards--it was a great privilege to have been included, and it really gave us a feeling of being part of the production in a way that the previous Marvel films never quite did. This was our movie in some small way, and we had a stake in it that truly mattered. And (even more importantly) the film turned out great and got both great response and great turn-out at the box office.

(The best part of seeing the film, just last Wednesday, was in knowing that Larry Leiber was also in the audience--Joe Q called him out during his pre-movie remarks. Larry had written the very first Iron Man story back in 1962, so it was terrific that not only did he get to have the experience of seeing what he had written up on the screen--the origin sequence in the film is very faithful to that first story--but he was listed in the credits as well. Larry's one of the more overlooked contributors to teh early Marvel Universe, so it was great to see him get a little bit of his due.)

More later--maybe even "One More Ray" if I can get all my ducks in a row.

Tom B

AWESOME!
Tom B, There's been alot talk about an Avengers movie. I am wondering, has there been any talk about that movie yet?

Posted by Aziroth on 2008-05-05 18:39:38

As in...
Did they have you guys come and share your ideas about the Avengers as they did with IronMan?

Posted by Aziroth on 2008-05-05 19:03:43

good job
Iron Man was great. Sounds like it helped to have you folks there as advisors.

Aziroth, there have been several news reports (I think related to Marvel's profit reports) of an Avengers movie in 2011.

Posted by beta-ray on 2008-05-05 22:40:54

Another well-done job
I still haven't see the movie yet, who sure will be fun.
Sure it takes a lot to make a movie, but I don't understand how you people can stay as happy from yourself : just seeing the trailer made me think about 'Robocop', Iron-Man don't have such enemmies like the other Iron Idontknowwhat, and you guys still pretend being innovative ? Verhoeven scripted a whole thing about the future he was talking about, with stuff like the tv-trailer opening the film; everybody is jerking Frank Miller with his 'Holy Terror Batman ' ( versus Al-Qaida ), congratulations, you did very better.
I know it sound like a fart, in fact it is.

Posted by notapotatoe on 2008-05-06 04:03:54

I seriously can't understand what notapotatoe is trying to say. Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?
Anyways, I'm totally looking forward to seeing this movie, and like Bendis said on his board, it's good to see that comic book writers are no longer being looked at as the retarded illegitimate siblings to movie and tv writers and are starting to get a little bit of respect.

Posted by doncorswhazie on 2008-05-06 07:44:01

notapotatoe, please check your facts. Robocop came out in 1987, Obadiah Stane donned the War-Monger armor in 1985. And yes, he was a real Iron Man villian.

Anyways, yeah it was an awesome flick and I think the respect for comics really shone through. It's really got me excited (or more excited anyways) for future Marvel Studio projects.

Posted by JdRavnos on 2008-05-06 08:28:45

Enjoyed the film thoroughly
Downey Jr absolutely makes it live; a great choice for the role. In truth the film isn't perfect - things start to drag about an hour in and the action sequences are somewhat perfunctory (the final battle in particular), but RDJ seems to elevate the film by force of will. It's a 3 star movie with a 5 star leading man. Hopefully the sequels will really expand the scope of IM's world - the AWESOME Nick Fury moment after the credits certainly hints at that (the idea of a proper Marvel universe on film - ohmygodunbelievablygreat). I would definitely recommend the film.

Tom - did the Marvel guys get to do something similar with the Hulk movie?

Posted by Moorish on 2008-05-06 08:40:20

Hurray for Marvel!!!!
HURRRRAYYYY!!!!

This is exactly what I hoped for....Marvel creating their own studio so they can control their characters....(NO MORe Liberties...I hope).

Marvel Stock is up & all is good..We are at a point in time when our favorite heroes can come to life on the big screen.

I can't wait for Iron Man to be released in Blu-Ray!

Kudos to Marvel Entertainment & I look forward to more Marvel Movies.

Posted by vindicator6 on 2008-05-06 11:59:55

my mistake.
the next steak party is for me.

Posted by notapotatoe on 2008-05-06 12:31:40

I insist.

Posted by notapotatoe on 2008-05-07 02:48:04

great job
this is really good for marvel i hope they keep it going and keep picking the right characters to go on the big screen. But they better not put ant man on the silver screen it should be docter strange.

Posted by Mr.Strange on 2008-05-08 00:19:48

I organized a poll in the www.comicastle.com forum, the most important forum of comic fans in Mexico, questioning “which is the best superheroes movie made to this date?” and Iron Man was voted favorite by about 46 %, followed by Batman Begins and Spiderman 2. Just thought you’ll be glad to know.

http://www.comicastle.com/foro/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=200

Posted by freyes2000 on 2008-05-09 14:01:00

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