Sep 25 2009 Blaring Entertainment/Gossip Program Visits 'Iron Man 2' Set

The entertainment/gossip foghorn known as Entertainment Tonight visited the set of Iron Man 2 and shouted back this five-minute segment about the superhero sequel. As usual, ET's loud, crack team of reporters asked the questions that matter. Like whether or not Scarlett Johansson is considered attractive by the male crew, and if Gwenyth Paltrow brought the child she and Coldplay decided to name Apple to the set.

Answers, including Paltrow struggling to say "archetypical," await!

Continue Reading " Blaring Entertainment/Gossip Program Visits 'Iron Man 2' Set "

Sep 2 2009 'Iron Man 2' in THREE DIMENSIONS???

For his second Iron Man film, Jon Favreau could be taking things to the next level! That level being the level of visual depth. According to AICN, 3-D decision-makers at Paramount and Marvel/Disney are reviewing a minute of Iron Man 2 3-D test footage to determine if Scarlett Johansson's breasts erupting from the screen warrants converting the entire film to the gimmicky format.

Something else you executives should weigh into you decision: if you make Iron Man 2 in 3-D, that totally blows your shot at using the Iron Man 3-D 3rd film/3rd dimension naming structure. Someone needs to uphold the grand traditions of Spy Kids 3-D and Jaws 3-D.

Aug 10 2009 'Iron Man 2' Comic Con Preview: I Think I See a Shoulder Gun Thing!

REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Want your first look at Don Cheadle's War Machine suit and Mickey Rourke's Star Trek: The Next Generation-inspired laser whips to be shaky, dark, and both visually and aurally indiscernible? Then enjoy the Iron Man 2 footage that was shown at the Comic Con. Besides the aforementioned War Machine and Whiplash scenes, it contains: Tony Stark put on trial by Larry Sanders, Scarlett Johansson jumping around, Sam Rockwell holding guns, and evidence that "I am Iron Man" is basically Tony Stark's equivalent of Urkel's "Did I do that?" What a treat for a Monday afternoon.

Aug 3 2009 'Iron Man 2' Viral Marketing Mocks the Unemployed

Sitting around your house shirtless, watching the half-hour afternoon edition of Howie Mandel's Pick-a-Box while alternately refreshing Craigslist's job section and the lastname.firstname email account you created to seem more professional to potential employers? You're in luck! The Stark Industries Stark Industries website now has a job application you can fill out (Tony Stark apparently hates formal resumes). Seeing that Stark Industries is not a real company, you probably won't get hired, but there is a bright side: "Information you provide through this website may be used for marketing purposes"! So maybe they'll send you an exclusive Iron Man 2 postcard or something that you could sell for a few dollars on eBay, giving you just enough for one more precious box of White Rose macaroni and cheese to get you through the week.

(Thanks, Brad of Comictube.)

Jul 22 2009 More Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow (or Possibly Brenda Starr)

From Yahoo, another shot of Scarlett Johansson as Russian spy Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, in Iron Man 2. Looks like even stealthy, nimble, superhero-caliber spies sometimes resort to the ol' "now that you've momentarily left the room, I'll sneak a peak at this secret document" trick. Classic.

Jul 17 2009 Comic-Con Preview: Iron Man, Alice in Wonderland, Alien Portal to Alien Ancient Egypt

Entertainment Weekly, the magazine dedicated to discussing media created for enjoyment every seven days, has put up their Comic-Con sneak peek gallery--and they aren't all photos of Alice in Wonderland looking like a harlot. Included are new shots from Iron Man 2, Zombieland, Pandorum, Kick-Ass, Stargate Universe and.... There's ANOTHER Stargate series? In addition to the previous SIX Stargates? When did this series become a completely unpopular Star Trek?

Preview here.

Jul 16 2009 Hey, It's Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow

Clad in leather and Amy Adams wig and standing on a crate, Scarlett Johansson appears alongside RDJ and Mickey Rourke on the cover of this week's Entertainment Weekly, and the magazine has posted this low-res first look at Johansson in costume as the impractically conspicuous Russian spy, Black Widow.

Inside the issue, Rourke explains how he made sure his character wouldn't be a flat, boring villain. By requesting he have a bird, obviously:

I told Favreau, 'I don't want to just play him as a one-dimensional p----,'" he says. "He let me have a cockatoo, who I talk to and get drunk with while I’m making my suit."

Nothing adds depth to an antagonist like an avian sidekick. There's a reason Jafar from Aladdin is probably our most complex and nuanced villain.

Jun 10 2009 First Look at Rourke in 'Iron Man 2': He Has Rogue's Hair

Is Mickey Rourke playing a He-Man figure? Based on the above image, that's a logical conclusion to come to, but no--this is the first look at Rourke in Iron Man 2. The suddenly-respected actor is playing the central villain, Whiplash, in the film, and he and director Jon Favreau briefly discussed the character and the function of his post-apocalyptic orthopedics:

The villain's alter ego, Ivan Vanko, is a Russian who "has constructed his own version of a suit," Favreau says. Among the creative innovations: a pair of whips, powered by the suit's glowing chest piece, that are expected to keep Iron Man cracking.

Whiplash "is going to light them up," Rourke quips.

Powered whips, eh? Wait a minute, I think I've seen that somewhere before...

Continue Reading " First Look at Rourke in 'Iron Man 2': He Has Rogue's Hair "

May 29 2009 Iron Man 2's Whiplash Probably Looks Like This

Mickey Rourke, who will be playing the metal-suited villain Whiplash in Iron Man 2, recently talked to Empire about what his still-unseen costume entails:

It's been really brutal, because my Iron Man suit weighs 23lb. It's sort of a half-suit, with half my skin showing, with lots of Russian tattoos, because [Whiplash is just] out of a Russian-zone prison.

OK, I think I see what you're getting at, Mickey. Something like this:

Continue Reading " Iron Man 2's Whiplash Probably Looks Like This "

May 7 2009 Iron Man with Bleached Hair and Sitting in a Giant Donut

Sometimes a headline can say everything that needs to be said.

Star Tracks - Action Figure [People]

May 1 2009 First Look at 'Iron Man 2'!

Hmm, not much new at first glance. But wait... This wooden case on his desk... Looks like a certain superhero may have finally learned to play the recorder.

Full article at USA Today.

Apr 7 2009 First Shots of Don Cheadle Replacing Terrence Howard

SpoilerTV (via Coming Soon) has posted the first shots from the set of Iron Man 2, including Robert Downey Jr. in man-heels, Gwyneth Paltrow in a car, and the above look at Don Cheadle as Rhodey. I was a little nervous about the casting switch being awkward, but now that I've seen how well Cheadle is replicating Rhodey's classic "casual but mystified by cell phones" look, no more worries. He's got it.

Mar 12 2009 Marvel Wants You to Save the Date(s)!

Marvel Studios has released some new and changed dates for their super comic men movies. Save the date(s)!:

Iron Man 2 - May 7, 2010
Spider-Man 4 - May 6, 2011
Thor - June 17, 2011
The First Avenger: Captain America - July 22, 2011
The Avengers - May 4, 2012

Summer of 2011 is going to be so superhero movie rich. I'm barely going to have time to catch waves, work at the local ice cream parlor, and fall in and out of love with a girl I meet at summer camp with all this nerd shit I have to do.

Feb 26 2009 Samuel L. Jackson Playing Nick Fury Until He Dies

Marvel still reportedly won't pay Mickey Rourke enough to put on a big metal suit and fight Iron Man, but the studio has signed Samuel L. Jackson to continue his role as Nick Fury for up to nine more films, locking the actor down for single, after-the-credits scenes for years to come. From Variety (thanks again, Joshua):

Jackson's deal is a long-term commitment to play Fury, the leader of the espionage unit the Shield. His deal contains an option to play the character in nine future Marvel superhero films, efforts that are expected to include "Captain America," "Thor," "The Avengers" and "The Shield" as well as potential sequels.

Jackson introduced Fury in the closing moments of "Iron Man," when the character asked Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark to join his group. Fury is a natural to show up in multiple Marvel franchises, as he crosses paths with many Marvel superheroes in the comicbooks.

Jackson's Marvel future looked murky, after he reportedly expressed his displeasure with the producer-financier's initial offer to reprise his role. Jackson was hardly alone: Even though "Iron Man" grossed more than $600 million worldwide, Marvel brass has been sparing in offers to talent like Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell to play villains in the sequel, sources said.

With how cheap Marvel seems to be acting with everything, expect that, in the unlikely event of Jackson's illness or death, they'll make sure they get their contract's worth by using footage from Shaft and a lot of Deal or No Deal-style silhouetted phone calls.

Jan 30 2009 Gulliver's Traveling Effing Up Iron Man

Fox is in talks with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt to join Jack Black in their adaptation of Gulliver's Travels. That's all well and good--we've all wanted to physically restrain Jack Black and one point or another, but most of us aren't given the chance to do it as a Lilliputian--except it's reportedly causing scheduling conflicts with her role in Iron Man 2:

Twentieth Century Fox is negotiating with Emily Blunt and Jason Segel to join Jack Black in "Gulliver's Travels," the Rob Letterman-directed reimagining of the classic Jonathan Swift tale.

Blunt had already been offered the role of Black Widow in "Iron Man 2," but that may not be an option because of "Gulliver's Travels." Fox holds an option on the actress that was part of her deal when she co-starred in "The Devil Wears Prada," and the studio may invoke it to see that she takes part in the giant tale.

While Blunt's reps are still trying to work out scheduling so she can play both roles, it will be an uphill battle because of scheduling overlap. "Gulliver's Travels" will shoot in the U.K. in late March; "Iron Man 2" is expected to begin lensing in early April in Manhattan Beach, Calif.

If only she could be two places at once! It's times like these you really realize how, for all the talk about the wonders of the future, we still haven't done shit with hologram clones.

Blunt, Segel added to 'Travels' [Variety]

Jan 15 2009 Is Emily Blunt Black Widow in the Iron Man?

I was under the impression that, ever since Goldeneye, a rule had been in place that every agile, over-sexualized Russian villainess character had to be played by Famke Janssen, but apparently I was way off on that, because Variety is reporting that Emily Blunt is up for the role of Black Widow in Iron Man 2:

With Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell negotiating to play key villains in "Iron Man 2," Marvel Entertainment and director Jon Favreau are now looking for the right thesp to play femme fatale Black Widow, another nemesis for Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark.

Emily Blunt has emerged as the frontrunner to play Natasha Romanoff in the "Iron Man" sequel. She's a Soviet superspy who doubles as Black Widow, a beauty in a skintight black costume enhanced by high-tech weaponry.

Perhaps the Famke Janssen casting rule has been overruled by the obscure "One House on Haunted Hill, one Deep Rising, and one I-Spy and you're out!" ruling. Or maybe there's a dominant rule that one is only allowed to play one artificially-red-haired, skin-tight black jumpsuit-wearing superhero. Because Hollywood operates based on a complicated series of oblique trumps and overtrumps, much like a game of Magic: The Gathering.

So now we've got Mickey Rourke as either Whiplash or Crimson Dyanmo, Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, and Blunt as Black Widow. Just waiting to find out who's playing Mandarin, Fin Fang Foom, Ultimo, Ultron, Boomerang, Firepower, Madame Masque, Bizarro Iron Man, and Riddler...

Jan 14 2009 Sam Jackson Losing His Fury? (Nick Fury Role)

Samuel L. Jackson played Nick Fury in the Iron Man (you waited after the credits, right!?), and the "Ultimates" version of Fury doesn't attempt to hide that it's Jackson in an eyepatch (see above), so it's seemed reasonable for fans to expect the actor would reprise his role as it appeared in future Marvel projects. Right? No. Because according to the LA Times, Marvel doesn't want to pay Sam Jackson Sam Jackson Money (probably a lot of money), and negotiations are not going well:

There were cheers in theaters at the end of "Iron Man," when Jackson appeared as Fury, but when I asked the actor about it today he shook his head.

"I saw ['Iron Man' and 'Iron Man 2' director] Jon Favreau at the Scream Awards and we had a conversation. He said, 'I hope things are working out for you because we're writing stuff for you.' Then all of a sudden last week I talked to my agents and manager and things aren't really working that well."

"There was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down. I don't know. Maybe I won't be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won't be in it. There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world so [they're saying to me], 'We're not making that deal.'"

I called Marvel Comics and they gave me a statement that suggested that they still want to see Jackson wearing the eyepatch. "Marvel does not comment on active negotiations," was the boilerplate repsonse, but there was that emphasis on the word "active" in the voice of the spokesman who phoned me back.

I'm not sure I see the issue here. Fury is a black guy, right? Just get Don Cheadle.

Jan 8 2009 Rourke and Rockwell Will Fight That Iron Man Guy

Mickey Rourke has gotten so popular since he started his wrestling career. Yesterday he joined the cast of Stallone's The Expendables, and now he's reportedly in talks to join Iron Man 2 as the film's central villain, while Sam Rockwell may play a rival industrialist. From THR:

Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell are in talks to star as the villains in "Iron Man 2," being directed by Jon Favreau.

Marvel has been keeping a very tight lid on the script for the sequel, being written by Justin Theroux, but it is known that Rourke would play a tattooed Russian heavy named Ivan who becomes Whiplash, a man with deadly, technologically enhanced coils.

Rockwell would play Justin Hammer, a multibillionaire businessman and a rival of industrialist Anthony Stark, AKA Iron Man, being played by a returning Robert Downey Jr.

So Mickey Rourke is playing Whiplash. Except Variety says the role is Crimson Dynamo:

Which role Rockwell will play has yet to be disclosed by Marvel, but Rourke is in discussions to play the Crimson Dynamo, a heavily tattooed Russian arms dealer. He's considered to be an evil version of Iron Man because he battles the superhero in a nuclear-powered suit of armor.

Confusing! I think the only way to suss this one out is with blind speculation, Photoshopping, and comments that we won't see the movie without Terrence Howard in it.

Dec 18 2008 Tim Robbins is Iron Man's Father?

Sorry, Gerard Sanders, but according to Latino Review, your Iron Man role of Howard Stark has been stolen by Tim Robbins:

From what I'm told, Tim Robbins is going to be playing Howard Stark in an important flashback sequence that is going to set up the Avengers and Captain America films. Jon [Favreau] wanted to get a good actor because he didn't think the guy who played Howard in the last film could carry such an important scene.

I'm also told that HAWKEYE and BLACK WIDOW are definitely in Iron Man 2 and they wont be cameos either.

Can't carry such an important scene, Favreau? Did you not see him portraying "Mannequin" in the 1989 TV movie Stuck with Each Other? Or "Handman" (???) in a 1985 episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood? Or perhaps, more recently, you missed his turn as "Process Server" in The Young and the Restless.

Maybe Favreau will give Sanders a smaller part to make up for the change. I don't think anyone has been cast as Hawkeye's handman yet.

Nov 3 2008 More on the Case of Terrence Howard v. Marvel

Entertainment Weekly has another update to the ongoing debate on why Terrence Howard was cut out of Iron Man 2 (he wouldn't take a pay cut and wasn't that good at acting, apparently):

Hollywood insiders believe the exit stems from Terrence Howard's difficult behavior on the set of Iron Man. But those with intimate knowledge of the situation suggest a far more dramatic backstory: Howard was the first actor signed to the film and, on top of that, was the highest-paid. That's right: more than Gwyneth Paltrow. More than Jeff Bridges. More than Robert Downey Jr. And once the project fully came together, it was too late to renegotiate his deal. It didn't help that, according to one source, Favreau and his producers were ultimately unhappy with Howard's performance, and spent a lot of time cutting and reshooting his scenes. (Favreau could not be reached for comment, while Howard's publicist says: ''Terrence had a tremendous experience working on Iron Man.'')

As such, when Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux went to map out the sequel they found themselves minimizing Howard's story line. Once Marvel learned that Favreau was thinking of curtailing the role, the studio went to the actor's agents with a new and drastically reduced offer — a number that's similar to what supporting cast members were paid for the first movie. The agents, according to sources, were so taken aback by this new figure — estimated at somewhere between a 50 and 80 percent pay cut — that they questioned it. Why did they blanch? Multiple sources say that Marvel execs never told Howard's reps that they had issues with the star's on-set conduct. (Marvel would not comment for this story.)

So much drama. Who's at fault here? Should Terrence Howard have taken less pay and done a better job acting? Should Marvel have at least told him before they recast his role? If I'm having a party, should I invite them both and risk them getting into an awkward argument when Marvel shows up with Don Cheadle? Is it possible Marvel found out that Terrence Howard is a skeleton wearing a magical flesh suit to blend in with the general population until he can ready his skeleton army? These are the questions we must answer before Iron Man 2 comes out.