Friday, September 29, 2006

Robert Downey Jr. to Portray Iron Man!!


Robert Downey Jr.
Originally uploaded by Heidi Meeley.
In surprising, and somewhat confounding news, the Hollywood Reporter has an article that reveals actor Robert Downey Jr. will play Iron Man in a new feature film being directed by Jon Favreau of Swingers fame. Paramount Pictures is the studio behind the movie, and the budget is set to be 100 million dollars plus.

Iron Man "will be set in today's geopolitical climate" according to the article. Marvel's Kevin Feige and Avi Arid are producing the flick. Supporting roles are being cast now, and the movie will start filming in February 2007.

Hmmmm....

Downey Jr. is an interesting choice for me. I really appreciate his body of film work, but never in a million years would have pictured him as Tony Stark. To muse over this, let's make a list of pluses and minuses.

Plus Side!

Downey Jr. was amazing as the title character in Chaplin. He has a great presence and truly is a wonderful actor.

As a wild card, Downey Jr. might be able to pull a few tricks out of his sleeve. With the event being set in the present, maybe he can amp up the empathy angle.

Downey Jr. has dark hair like Tony Stark.

MINUS SIDE

Is Downey Jr. able to pull of the physicality needed for the role? I never have pictured him as athletic.

His history of problems with substances makes him a wild card. Stay on that wagon, Robert!

I have always felt that Tony Stark was quite the lover boy. Will Downey Jr. be able to channel his inner playboy as he did before in Chaplin?

So many questions, and it was just announced today! I am will keep an eye on this story as it unfolds. I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but I am still really surprised at this casting choice.

Thoughts?

6 comments:

Carl said...

I commented on a friend's blog that I all I really wanted was Downey's Iron Man have to pop the explosive bolts on his helmet or drown in his own puke. Of course, that would be if they were doing the "Demon In A Bottle" storyline. Now and again, I seem to have a problem with acute mean spiritedness. I guess. Sometimes my moral compass seems to just go completely out of whack when I can find it, ho ho!

Heidi Meeley said...

Carl, it is okay to not be happy about this casting decision. It isn't exactly a cut and dried choice. God knows, I didn't exactly do a jig.

Then I thought this:

Robert: substanse abuse problems
Tony: alchohol abuse problems

Robert: overdramatic and tortured
Tony: overdramatic and tortured

This made me think it might actually be a fit, in a non-conventional, scary way.

Crikey!

John Holland said...

I like the fact that he is a very talented actor. He can make us believe he's Tony Stark. I'd rather have a good actor than someone that just looks the part.

Heidi Meeley said...

John, I definitely think that having a good actor play the part will help. The more I think about Downey Jr., the more it grows on me. Hopefully he can use some of his past failings to create a believable Tony Stark.

I am crossing my fingers!

Chris Arndt said...

I think it's always a questionable move to get a famous or notorious actor to play a role of pre-created character adapted from another medium.

It kinda helps crack my suspension of disbelief into two pieces when I spend half the movie referring to Zorro as "Antonio Banderas", for example.

The question is: how famous or notorious is this guy now?

Heidi Meeley said...

Chris- I think at this point Downey Jr. is more notorious then famous. The definite low point was when he was found in a kid's bed taking a nap a few years back. Nice.

You make a good point that it will be tough to separate the actor from the character. I hadn't thought of that, but it could be a problem.

We shall see...