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Sunday, September 07, 2008
Iron Man lives again!
On Saturday I was lucky enough to be at the Aero Theatre in Los Angeles for a session of live commentary by Jon Favreau for Iron Man. I knew it was going to be something special when Favreau said there was no commentary scheduled for the DVD, so we were the lucky few to hear this. It was even more special when Robert Downey Jr. decided to show up and join his director for the commentary. I hate L.A. 99% of the time. This was the 1% when I loved it.
There's no point in me giving you a blow-by-blow. Trying to recreate the banter those two have in print is impossible (anyway, I know of at least one person who had a recorder and has since put the damn thing on-line). I will share one major topic that the two came back to again and again. Favreau noted in his preamble that since this commentary wouldn't be recorded he didn't have to be "politically correct." We found out that meant that he and Downey had no trouble going over the arguments he had with Marvel over so much of the movie. Marvel was nervous, this being their first self-financed movie, but Favreau wouldn't let that stop him from making the movie he wanted to make. He wanted a film that would live up to the independent films he started out in. He and Downey were writing scenes hours before shooting (most of the film was shot in continuity) and gave lots of room for improvisation. For them, this film had to have a personal side or else all the special effects and actions would mean nothing. Even Iron Man's flight through L.A. had personal origins. Favreau said he was inspired by the feeling you get on a plane landing in LAX, seeing that complex grid of lights from the sky. So much of the movie had its origins in some place human. Everything was useful. Even for the scenes where Stark was captured by The Ten Rings Favreau joked "Robert was our consultant on what's like being in captivity in small spaces."
This work process led to struggles with Marvel on seemingly every step of the way. As a director Favreau noted how you're obsessed with every detail anyway (he likened it to "picking rat shit out of pepper"). On top of that was Marvel's nitpicking at every turn, even on issues as trivial as the green power smoothie Stark is drinking after his first flight. One of the first questions asked at the inevitable post-screening Q&A was "how do you fight?" Favreau said that so many people in show business are motivated by fear. Once you subdue that initial feeling of dread you can take the next step and try to get your idea through. It's clear that Marvel and Favreau had the same goal, namely make a great superhero movie. It's how you get their that they differed on.
Of course, Favreau was proven right. There was a unique chemistry created on the set between the director and the lead actors. The Powers That Be might have balked when Downey improvised the line "this is the funvee, you ride in the humdrumvee" (true, that's what Downey claimed) but that spirit of improvisation instilled in the characters with a warmth you don't usually see in superhero films. When I saw Iron Man for the first time one of the aspects I loved the most was that here was a film that I could recommend to everyone. Iron Man bucks the trend of so many superhero movies by making the characters so relatable (while still being larger-than-life figures) that most anyone going to the movies can get a kick out of them. Iron Man is the only big summer movie I had a conversation with my Dad about. My Dad hasn't read a comic book in forty years. He's outside any demographic some studio bean counter would give a damn about. But he and I found the same things to love in this film, us being a generation apart notwithstanding in the slightest.
Favreau and Downey captured lightning in the bottle, something they're going to try to do again for the sequel. Lord knows if there will be room for such lifelike dialogue if they get around to an Avengers movie. Downey even had fun with that, constructing how his character would address Thor ("a little undressed are we?"). At least we got one film from the team that demanded to never let the special effects and super powers hide the fact that this is still a story about people.
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