Before they put their heads together for the upcoming Marvel flick Iron Man 3, Robert Downey Jr. and Shane Black got acquainted working on the underrated modern noir masterpiece Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
If you’re unfamiliar with Shane Black, he’s the guy who wrote Lethal Weapon and is renowned as a kind of master when it comes to writing slick and witty dialogue cues – the kind of slick and witty dialogue cues that Robert Downey Jr. loves to mumble his way through. He’s also writing/directing Iron Man 3. So what kind of relationship do actor/director share?
“I adore him,” said Downey Jr. in a recent interview. “I’ve been a fan of Shane Black since I saw Lethal Weapon. When we were doing the first Iron Man, Jon Favreau and I used to call up Shane Black. We had two lifeline calls; one was to J.J. Abrams, which was about the third act. And for the other call, we went to Shane’s house.”
“For instance, in the Iron Man scene where Tony Stark comes back from captivity and calls a press conference, and then asked everybody to sit down, the speech Stark gives all came from Shane Black,” continued Downey Jr. “So to get him to do Iron Man 3, it has just been this awesome experience and one of my favourite working experiences. Iron Man 3 is going to be a very, very bold genre film, from the storytelling.”
As for moving away from former Iron Man and Iron Man 2 director in favor of Black, Downey Jr. revealed some information about Jon Favreau’s character in the series. “Happy has an amazing arc in this movie,” he said. “In fact, probably the best two bits of acting in the movie, so far from what I can tell – which sucks because I’m in every frame – are Favreau as Happy Hogan… I can’t give away much, but it’s ridiculous!”
Iron Man 3 hits theatres April 24th 2013. Are you looking forward to it? Can it redeem the series after the mediocre Iron Man 2? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
