The Tony Stark character is very linked to you. Thats not to say they couldnt one day recast the role
RDJ: Im sure theyve thought about it. I feel like I got sold to Disney for $4 billion.
Does the fact that youre so connected make you want to stay around as long as you can?
RDJ: Yeah, but, quiet as its kept, thats how Ive always been. The thing about playing this kind of inherent narcissist, whenever you kill one of Tonys egos, another one just pops up. Ive had that experience, but Ive found the whole thing to be a very quieting journey for me. Its been remarkably humbling. You realize youre just kind of part of this thing. I think the problems begin when any one person involved in anything particularly anything successful decides that they have some sense of ownership to it. This is really something that Stan Lee scratched down going on 50 years now. He touched on something really, really cool with Iron Man and, strangely, Iron Man was sort of second-tier superhero who laid the groundwork for these other guys and gals. Where Im at right now is that Ive always thought of myself particularly since Ive been married to this high-functioning Jewish girl from the Midwest I think of myself as being a company man. I like showing up and I like doing press. I like being able to say, Im going to take a break because I dont want to burn out. I dont want to be doing a roundtable or a press conference and have people say, He looks tired! I want to be there. I want to communicate and kind of experience this. The funny thing is that, though I can be quick-witted, I tend to have a slow take experientially for things. These five or six years have not been enough time for me to process what has happened.
It seems that you must getting towards the end of whatever contract you originally signed. Are you going to sign on for several more or will you take it one at a time?
RDJ: I dont know. I honestly get uncomfortable with leverage. I was annoyed for awhile about having a contract where, in success, not very much changes for you. But then I got to thinking, What was I really doing before I got Iron Man? Then I think, Dont lead with that, Robert! Youre a big prime mover! I go, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get that. I can talk about that for two hours. But Im a big believer in being really straight and saying, Okay, lets really look at this. I not going to pretend Im over it and whatever. Obviously, its better to have a contract run out than it is to have one go on indefinitely. But I guess thats why contracts have limits on them. Lets just say that me, the agents and the lawyers are having a bit of a ball right now. I dont like this whole and I think its a particularly Western thing. Well, maybe not anymore, because were being outpaced by the east business-wise of Weve got him! Lets screw him to the floor! Is that what gets you off? Making people feel bad? It shouldnt be, Man, they really put the screws to us, brother. Its like, Werent we excited about the future a couple of years ago. Now were just laying the boots to each other. Its just so digesting. Im an artist!