The Chicago Sun-Times recently spoke with the Iron Man star and managed to pry some details about the sequel to the hit film out of him; Movie Hole also asked Downey about Iron Man 2 and got more than they bargained for when the actor went on a tirade, slamming DC Comics and the runaway success of The Dark Knight.
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“You want some plot secrets? Okay, here we go,” Downey said in an interview [with The Chicago Sun-Times] this weekend. “If he said he’s Iron Man in the first film, it’s one thing to say it and another thing to evolve to a point where you can live in a heroic fashion.”
Downey added, “Our goal is also more of the same in ‘Iron Man 2.’ We want to do what worked for us last time. I’m talking about telling more of the story of a guy put in extraordinary circumstances who has a family now and he’s dealing with these forces. In ‘Iron Man 2,’ you will be able to understand various points of view about him that are far-reaching while this guy is still grounded in reality.”
Ok, so basically they’re taking the Christopher Nolan approach: using the continuity established in the first film to logically expand on the plot threads left hanging at the conclusion of the origin story. Not too original, but hey, if the wheel works so well why re-invent it, right?
Downey pretty much echoed his sentiments about IM2 in an interview with Movie Hole, adding that
It’s pretty great and I think it’s going to be cool… [Iron Man has] a very rich feel, because it was a very simple movie, if you ask me. It was an origin story.”
And that’s about when the daggers started flying:
“My whole thing is that that I saw ‘The Dark Knight’. I feel like I’m dumb because I feel like I don’t get how many things that are so smart…and I’m like, ‘That’s not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.’ I…still can’t tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I’m like, ‘I get it. This is so high brow and so f–king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.’ You know what? F–k DC comics. That’s all I have to say and that’s where I’m really coming from.”
Wow, tell us how you really feel Rob. (It may be time to start urine-testing this guy again.)
Seriously though, I don’t see why Downey is hating on TDK. Iron Man tore it up at the box office ($569 million worldwide as of today,) and basically put Downey back on Hollywood’s radar. What, did that stupid MTV movie award go to his head? Or maybe Marvel has a clause in their contracts which states that their stars have to bad-mouth DC whenever and wherever possible. Hell, maybe Downey is just doing his job
So what do YOU think about Robert Downey Jr.’s kind words for Iron Man 2? About his hateful words for The Dark Knight? You have my permission to sound off.
Source: The Chicago Sun-Times & Movie Hole
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209 Comments
Kane,
No doubt the boom of high quality comic book films can’t last forever. I’ve at least heard that there’s a chance WB will actually give Nolan more creative leeway in light of this success, if and when he ever decides to cap off what could be the first trilogy to have no red-haired stepchildren.
I just don’t see Nolan or the actors in his Batman universe co-operating with a Justice League type deal. Bale at least will have had his fill of the character by then and will be looking forward to expanding his resume. The others will do likewise because let’s face it, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman have better things to do than linger too long in one place.
WB will have to come up with an alternate plan for Justice League. I would suggest an animated film, because something like that can stand on it’s own apart from Nolan’s universe. Be it’s own thing.
Of course, I’ve never thought the idea of a Justice League was a natural fit for the big screen. Same for the Avengers on the Marvel side. Too much can go wrong with that many leads vying for part of the spotlight. Much better to just focus on creating individual, well-crafted stories for each individual hero.
I think I need to stop throwing ideas out there purely for thought/conversation, ‘cus I forget you only have this one moment to judge my points on.
Just for the record, I’ve been saying for a long time that a Nolan Batman would never work with Superman and/or the JLA. And I still think that (and therefore agree with you, jerseycajun).
But.
I do think the powers that be will try their darnedest to work TDK (and Batman Begins) into their plans if they can. So, with that in mind, it’s fun to think of how they could do it with class and intelligence… against all prior judgement.
I also used to think crossovers were a dangerous proposition… but, so far, it sounds like Marvel are going to make it work. You can have creativity and business at the same time – it just takes some very clever people.
I think if Nolan really wanted to introduce Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, or the Justice League, he could find a way to do it and make it plausible. People seem to forget that The Prestige involved the supernatural, so it’s not like Nolan isn’t familiar with it. I just don’t see how it would be possible under the scope of one film.
As to Jr. I’m just going to say: “Cocaine’s a hell of a drug.”
I kid.
He’s just bitter Ben Stiller’s nephew was right.
So “Watchmen” is basically DC’s superhero team movie. Unofficial reports were that the production companies had 200 million budgeted for JL. That seems a little shy for a Routh/Bale movie; Ignoring the other actors and the required additional costs those actors bring to the production, irrespective of those actors salaries. So maybe the reason JL is tabled isn’t story but money for a particular story.
Then again would Bale do a cameo for a few million? There are JL stories that have a wary Batman that won’t get involved beyond a financial commitment. While “Watchman” de constructs superhero mythology, a JL story could explore the limits of meta-power, ala a Justice Lords like story. Could complement “The Man Of Steel” movie as well. How many caught the easter egg in “I am Legend” where there’s a bill board in the background with Superman’s’ S over Batman’s’ bat symbol?
It’s a shame to see my respect for another star vanish. There was no need for this.
Sounds like IM2 will take a similar route to DK. I hope they do keep the same sort of magic as the 1st, but i doubt it if the ‘troubled hero’ is the story they want to tell.
Given all we have is a quote… without tone, context, yada, yada, yada… I don’t think anyone can claim to know just how serious RDJ was. I certainly would “lose respect” for him. Heck, for all we know, he had a few drinks and was having a laugh about his film being beaten at the box office.
I’ve been known to say less than polite things about George Lucas in my time but I’d hate to have cops arrive at my door arresting me for murder threats.
*Sheesh*
If RDJ finds the Dark Knight too highbrow, hate to think how he’d react to Memento!
Maybe it is all a setup. Next thing Bale will slag off Iron Man, and we’ll have the two sides baiting each other until their movies come out and we’re foaming at the mouth for them.
Wouldn’t surprise me if some jealousy was involved though. Great reviews of RDJ’s performance but not a whisper of an oscar.
**Quote”
“T. said,
August 13th, 2008
I also found the end of TDK wanting. The whole Batman has to be bad, Two Face a martyr thing didn’t cut it for me. They also could have cut at least thirty minutes from the movie and it wouldn’t have been missed. A very good movie, but I’m not sure it’s a great one. ”
————————————–
Wow. This is just how I feel about the TDK. I am not kidding.
Reverend,
what do you mean by unprofessional? This is a good thing man, something we rarely get from hollywood, honesty, humour rather than this media-trained repeated nonsense we get from pro athletes.
I think what you want is something we’d never be able to talk about on sites like this and things never to get excited about.
I would be equally excited if Bale came out and poked fun at marvel. It shows the actors are actually passionate about what they do, are honest, and love what this is all about.
If professionalism is avoiding this kinda light humour, appeasing the fans sort of this, then I don’t want any pros around, lol
oh, and you said it makes him look kinda dumb, I think it makes him look entirely the opposite and I think most others here would agree. It would be dumb of him to not take advantage of his position and this situation. I am entertained from this, I am excited more for what’s coming from this, and I give more props to RDJ because of this. More importantly, this just adds more fuel to the comicmovie train
quote
ppnkof said,
“TDK on the other hand ranks up there with Empire Strikes Back, Temple of Doom, Spider-Man 2, and The Two Towers,”
Seriously what are you smoking the two towers a couple or retards walking to get rid of a magic ring how exciting none of those films compare to empire strikes back.
DC suck in comparison to Marvel who have made the mistake with spider man and xmen but is still strong enough to work around not being able to make their own versions of there strongest and most watched heros
@kobe
Marvel… What have they done again? Spidey 1, 2, X2, Iron Man? DC has just Bats Begins and TDK RIGHT NOW, but Watchmen is on the way, V for Vendetta deserves note and Bats 3 will be a smash. Green Lantern, Flash…. When DC gets going full swing Marvel will be running out of gas. Gonna be interesting to see what you have to say then. And to all you haters: $400+ million doesn’t lie. Men lie, women lie, numbers never lie.
Yeah! Numbers don’t lie! The Phantom Menace was a brilliant, well-crafted and solidly written film!
(The funny thing here is that people will presume I’m saying The Dark Knight is in some way like The Phantom Menace when actually I’m just mocking a single statement)
He was joking, even my little brother understood that.
@ppnkof
numbers lie dude tdk did good numbers because good advertising same way spidey 3 did and that films horrible but tdk is still doing good numbers partly because it’s a good film and partly because the imax thing where people are watching it twice cause 1st in normal cinema then in imax because of availability not saying it’s a bad film but marvel have better super heros and if they did spidey them selves without sonys involvement dc could not compare flash is a good one green lantern is ok superman what happened there the rest are like marvel rip offs look at marvel spidey, venom, wolverine, dead pool, hulk, and then the ultimate onslaught.
plus you watch some weird dudes walking a ring somewhere and liked it come on your easily please ha ha ha
“Yeah! Numbers don’t lie! The Phantom Menace was a brilliant, well-crafted and solidly written film!”
Rimshot! Bud-um-BUM.
Vic
btw kane nice comment phantom menace lol
Rob,
To avoid confrontation, I’ll just add:
1) Did you not read the last line of the comment? ( Which was so nicely edited, I forgot the site was PG-13 )
2) Never, on any level, assume you think you know what I want.
Rev
Downey received an Academy Award nomination and won the BAFTA (British Academy Award) Best Actor for his performance in the title role of Chaplin, released in 1992. Hes also a Golden Globe Winner.
I seriously doubt hes jelous.
@kobe
Could you please consider using punctuations the next time you post anywhere? Also it should be clear by now that DC always had better superheroes(the villains alone make DC more powerful) while Marvel had better storytellers which is why I’m more a Marvel fan. Also if you do a cross search based on the timelines of the superheroes/villains, you will find out that Marvel ripped off DC more on creating new characters to date.
The reason Marvel had better luck with the movies ’cause DC/Warner Bros. had been clueless until Nolan showed up and now they have a dilemma where two of the greatest superheroes of all time may never share a screen together-don’t think anyone cares at this point anyway. But then again I’d say Batman Begins and The Dark Knight combination alone holds the flag for DC higher than the critically successful(forget box-office) Marvel outings X-Men 1&2,Spiderman 2,Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk while there have been some ill conceived projects such as HULK,Daredevil,Electra,Punisher,X-Men 3, Spiderman 3 and The Fantastic Four movies. So there had been some hit and miss situations and it seemed like the fans were just happy to see their favourite superheroes on screen until Iron Man raised the bar for any further Marvel release. Robert Downey Jr. had every right to express himself like an egomaniacal jerk, I would’ve as well if my rivals came up with an instant classic!
Anyway it’s still Marvel’s 5 against DC’s 2.The saddest thing is that DC/Warner Bros are yet to come up with a plausible story for a Superman film since the original back in 1978.The revamped Batman franchise only made matters more complicated for them. Also their intention to adapt the OMAC storyline and NOT an origin story for the Justice League movie shows how “clueless” they are.
Risa,
I thought Superman 2 with General Zod was the best movie of the series with Chris Reeve. ALL the Supes movies since that one have been corny and/or sucked. Including Returns.
Superman 2 is a good one. Mind you, I still have an obsessio about the evil woman with the badge fetish.
Superior sequels – Mad Max 2, Evil Dead 2 and Terminator 2 (surprised not been mentioned already)
Sorry guys, numbers don’t lie, despite whatever snarky comments you wanna shoot back at me. First of all, some of you are the some people who thought the Incredible Hulk was “pretty good.” That crowd please sit down, you obviously are unqualified for the gift of free speech. Second: Phantom Menace duped the whole world and stole our money–but still many of us went for repeat viewings of it. (I camped outside for opening night tickets, you have the courage to admit the same?) Despite how snarky bloggers feel about the movies they’ll never make, the fact is that a fat box office take (talking OVER $300 mil, sorry IM, domestically speaking,) means that a film did SOMETHING magical for one or more of the four quadrants of moviegoers, Titanic being the clearest case we have. (God awful film, but try telling that to girls 13-18 back in 1997.) So throw daggers all you want, talk about “art vs. the $” all you want, the BOTTOM line of the movie biz is that the NUMBERS NEVER LIE. Big numbers = big success, and it’s a sliding scale for there. Or to some this all up in the lovely American colloquialism of a single word: “Scoreboard!”
And yes, I need go back to the dictionary and re-learn proper use of the word “some,” I know. Happens when I get fired up; all I can think is “What, you want some?”
you need to go back to the dictionary and re-learn the meaning to opinion.
IMO: I think you mean “Meaning OF opinion.”
Guess we’ll be sharing that dictionary oscar!
I believe Robert is just jealous because of how well the film is doing. GET OVER IT!!! I am very glad it is doing so well. I hope it beats Titanic!!
no, i just forgot to put the words “the word” inbetween “to” and “opinion” lol
Hey Rev,
I totally understand, my post was more in jest about the whole RDJ situation. He’s quite a character. It’s pretty interesting with what’s going on nowadays with comic films being the biggest thing in the film industry. It’s pretty exciting.
But what is this stuff all about?:
“Never, on any level, assume you think you know what I want.”
If I read that word for word, and you actually do talk like that, then you really need to chillax (relax and chill) and not talk like that man.
Marvel, DC and all other comics FTW!
Is there a way to edit the posts on here? I went back to my comment only to find out that two of the words are missing in a sentence and sounds kinda weird:) Guess I should’ve proofread.
Sorry Risa, there isn’t. But I went in and added something to the end of your post which I think addresses what you’re referring to.
Commenters who care about the quality of their writing… I love it!
Vic
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