Iron Man 2 CHUD's Set Visit

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This is the preview--full article tomorrow

Thunder cracked as we drove on to the Raleigh Studios lot, the home of Marvel Studios and where Iron Man 2 is entering its back half on about five stages. Thunder's a truly rare thing in Los Angeles, and Marvel Studios honcho Kevin Feige joked that it must be because Kenneth Branagh was a couple of buildings down doing tests for Thor.

Last time Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr got together to make a superhero movie they were the underdogs. A lot has changed with Iron Man's 318 million dollar domestic gross (over 500 million worldwide), and the sequel is coming under strong scrutiny. Favreau, a guy who has been plugged in and connecting directly with his fans since Made, says he doesn't mind it. In fact he likens his relationship with the online press to that between athletes and sports writers - two sides of the same coin, joined by a common bond of love of the sport.

Which means he doesn't mind that we approached his set with the sort of attention to detail that Downey's next franchise character might. We had a chance to visit Tony Stark's workshop - upgraded in very cool ways since the first film - and every single one of the journalists on set were combing through the papers in Stark's waste bin, taking notes about magazine covers and trying to figure out what certain books on the shelves could mean. We found lots of intriguing hints, specifically some about the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, including what I saw just outside the stage...

But I can't talk about any of that right now. My embargo is heavy and serious, and Marvel and Paramount were so cool about what they showed us that I would hate to bend it, let alone break it. While Favreau et al were quite tight-lipped about the plot of the sequel, it was obvious that they're approaching this story from the right place: character first. And while the action and the set pieces are better (and both Feige and Favreau promise to up the ante from Iron Man's serviceable but not overwhelming Iron Monger battle), they're not even remotely in danger of losing sight of what made the first one a surprise smash, namely the tone and the humor.

So yeah, this is essentially a tease. Tomorrow I'll be able to bring you more about the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; we had an amazing 45 minute session with Kevin Feige and we hit all the bases. Latino Review's El Guapo and I did some sleuthing and we have theories as to who will be the bad guy in the Avengers film, and I'll share that with you tomorrow, as well as updates on Thor and Captain America. And then some time after that I'll be able to tell you about the more than a half hour Favreau gave to us (truly an unprecedented amount of time with a director on the set of a film as big as this), as well as the time we got to spend with the truly gracious and funny Robert Downey Jr.

As for the movie itself: what we saw being filmed wasn't even cloe to enough to make any sort of judgment, but I definitely liked what I heard (and the little clues I picked up). There's a lot going on in Iron Man 2, and I think the bigger scope (in terms of action and in terms of character) is going to get people really excited. And I suspect that if you're going to be at Comic Con you'll want to camp out in Hall H so you can guarantee a look at what Favreau is bringing to San Diego this year.

http://chud.com/articles/articles/19736/1/SET-VISIT-PREVIEW-IRON-MAN-2/Page1.html

 

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Whoever gets to read the article tomorrow, please post it here

 

[cryptic name]

this makes me even more psyched for comic con. bet your ass i'll be camped out in hall H!

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

Wow, sounds awesome! Same for Superherohypes'!

 

[bossman550]

comic con should be awesome

 

[Redd]

Where's the full interview?

 

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beats me. They promised they'd post it yesterday..

 

[[A]]

This is from the CHUD boards..

Waiting for word from Paramount. There was a kerfuffle

 

[deathshead2]

This is from the CHUD boards..

Yeah some site posted it early and didn't listen to the rules. So Paramount is moving the dates.

 

[kedrell]

^That was UGO, I believe, who jumped the gun.

 

[[A]]

silly ugo

 

[deathshead2]

silly ugo

They won't be invited to any Paramount set visits for awhile.

 

[bossman550]

go tohttp://www.firstshowing.net/2009/06/07/profile-on-marvel-studios-with-big-updates-from-kevin-feige/for second half of interview

 

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Tony Stark's workshop has had an upgrade. At first it all looks pretty much the same, and then you notice the floor. In the first film Tony had a desk that projected holograms with which he could interact; in Iron Man 2 the entire floor of the workshop projects those holograms. Which means that wherever he might be at any one time he can call up schematics, plans and information and move the items about with a flick of his wrist.

Which means that the entire floor of Stark's workshop has been covered in glass, and to walk onto the set you must be given a little set of booties. Exploring the set (in my little booties) I quickly noticed that not everything was given over to this glass; in one corner there was a little living room set up - a rug and a couch and a TV and an Xbox. And scattered all over the rug were documents pertaining to Tony's father, Howard Stark. There were newspaper and magazine clippings, bits of film reels, a German passport... and a diagram of Captain America's shield. And a map of Antarctica.

What was Tony Stark looking for in all of these old documents? Whatever it was, it was likely related to the Stark Expo of 1964, a forward thinking fair put on by Howard Stark. In the scene I was there to see shot, Tony stood over a scale model of the fairgrounds - pretty obviously the 1964 New York World's Fair Grounds, including the Unisphere - and was trying to find something hidden.

Robert Downey Jr can make even the most mundane moment interesting. We saw him do a number of takes where the camera slid over the surface of the model, and each time he brought something subtly different. Finally he moved into the big special effects moment - pretending to pick up the model and throw it into the air. In the finished film Tony's hands will lift a digitized hologram of the model, and when he throws it into the air he'll be presented with the entire fairgrounds as a map, which he begins to color code, trying to find the key to... something that his father hid.

If I tell you what it is that his father hid there it could be a major spoiler for the film. And I know that you want to walk into Iron Man 2 as pure as possible, so I'll save you the heartbreak of having it ruined.

Director Jon Favreau spent a lot of time with the assembled group of journalists by a monitor - expect a lengthy interview when the full embargo on this visit is lifted - and filled us in on what it was that he wants to do with this sequel. Favreau knows what made Iron Man tick - the humor, the characters, the tone - but he also knows where it was lacking - the big action set pieces - and he wants to keep what worked while improving everything else. What was heartening was hearing Favreau and Downey both talking about the film in ways that accentuated the characters. For instance, Tony has serious daddy issues in this film, trying to live up to a father who Favreau compares to Da Vinci, a man very ahead of his time. Many of the advances that Howard Stark made can't be achieved until now, when Tony is a grown man struggling in his father's shadow. Howard Stark is so important that Favreau has hired Mad Men's John Slattery to play him in the film, although I got the sense that it'll be in some sort of holographic form.

Tony has other problems. Favreau, Downey and screenwriter Justin Theroux were careful to try and figure out just what would be the logical next step from Iron Man's 'I am Iron Man' ending (which was pretty much something they came up with on the day). Iron Man 2 is set six months after the first and Tony is really dealing with the ramifications of his announcement. Said Favreau: 'He's already gone from somebody who's been one of the most famous people in the world and one of the richest people in the world to now being a superhero on top of it and how his infrastructure attempts to manage that, it's like when a billionaire becomes a reality TV star on top of it, it's a wonder how that integrates with their life. This is a more extreme version of that.'

One way he won't integrate it into his life is by becoming a huge stinking drunk. Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, told us that those looking for the Demon in a Bottle storyline will be disappointed. Downey Jr and Favreau were also quick to emphasize that this film won't feature Tony vomiting all over himself in the Iron Man armor, and Feige insists that Stark won't drink all that much more than he did in the first film. But that doesn't mean all is rosy. 'About midway through the film he hits rock bottom,' Feige said. 'Rock bottom is not in an alley way with alcohol alongside a dumpster.'

As Tony worked to solve the puzzle of the Stark Expo, I noticed something behind him. He had a display case for his armors, with four slots. The Mark I was in there, as was the end of Iron Man Mark III and the Iron Man 2 Mark IV. But the Mark II was gone. The silver version of the Iron Man suit had somehow disappeared from the display case. I immediately went into sleuthing mode, and my guesses turned out to be proven correct at Comic Con: Rhodey has the armor and has turned it into War Machine.

But what does the pile of Howard Stark related paperwork mean? We saw Cap's shield in the first film, but what does Antarctica have to do with anything? And why does Stark have a German passport? Is Tony finding out that his great and wonderful dad had a darker side, something hinted at by Whiplash in the Comic Con footage? I'm curious to see what it all adds up to, and how it impacts the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.

http://chud.com/articles/articles/20293/1/SET-VISIT-PREVIEW-IRON-MAN-2/Page1.html

 

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[BobJM]

If i tell you what it is that his father hid there it could be a major spoiler for the film. And i know that you want to walk into iron man 2 as pure as possible, so i'll save you the heartbreak of having it ruined.

ahhhhhh! may 7th can't come soon enough

 

[Aztec]

I love how this is tying into Captain America. This all sounds really great. I have complete faith in Favreau and company!

 

[bossman550]

me 2