It’s like 24-7 “Iron Man,” over at The Playlist? What gives? Eh. Anywho, so we did this piece where we slogged through two very lengthy Robert Downey Jr. profiles – one from the New York Times and one from GQ, both were fairly enjoyable (not like the last GQ RDJ piece we read which was so mile-a-minute Downey we literally got seasick and put it down).
According to the Times, Jon Favreau, the “Iron Man” director said that casting Mr. Downey was “far from a source of stress ” and that “Marvel did not consider casting Mr. Downey to be a risk.”
“That an actor of his caliber and talent was willing to submit to a screen test spoke volumes about his enthusiasm,” said Kevin Feige, president for production at Marvel Studios. “And his past was not a huge issue. The fact that Disney had already cast him in ‘The Shaggy Dog’ suggested that he was more than ready to do another family-oriented film.”
However, in Entertainment Weekly, the Marvel Studios production president sung an entirely and different contradictory tune
”It was a risky piece of casting, but all the more intriguing because of it,” said Feige. ”Like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, it’s a move that takes this movie to another level.”
Feige says Downey wasn’t an easy sell to his superiors. ”I had to negotiate a minefield of questions when I made that pitch,” Feige says, laughing. But Downey’s recent track record of clean living and steady, impressive work (16 films in five years) allayed concerns. ”His past was ultimately a nonissue,” Feige says.
Even Favreau said something completely different to GQ that’s in direct contradiction to what he told the Times. “He tried and tried and tried and got shot down,” the director said, “until finally he went on-camera [and won the role with a screen-test].”
It might mean nothing and is probably just one interview (EW) being conducted months (or weeks) before somone the right-around-the-corner release and Feige/Favreau wanting to put the best foot forward come release time (i.e., “oh no, fine, fine, we never had a problem selling him to anyone, he was always our first choice”). But it does seem a little odd, no? (then again the Times piece doesn’t contain Fav quotes on the matter, just paraphrasing).
Maybe the top brass told them both to “get on message”?
We’d also love to point out that every “Iron Man” profile out there singles out the character of Tony Stark as being completely different from all superhero’s because he’s a rich playboy in a suit with no super powers to speak of – hello, Batman? (not to mention a tri-dozen other heroes in the tightpants universe comprised of thrill-seeking, rich scientist guys with too much time on their hands)