The Nuts and Bolts of the Animated Iron Man
Written by Scott Collura
Wednesday, 26 July 2006
ImageWhile theres been much talk about the upcoming Iron Man feature film over the past few days, Marvel Studios just-announced direct-to-video animated movie based on old Shellhead hasnt gotten as much press
yet. While at Comic-Con this weekend, we caught up with Craig Kyle, vice president of creative development for animation at Marvel Studios, and he gave us the skinny on the upcoming film, which follows the studios successful Ultimate Avengers and soon-to-be-released Ultimate Avengers 2 tales.
Were doing Iron Man, which Im very, very excited about, says Kyle. I think its a beautiful story. I think it has the potential to be one of the best of our first four [animated films]. Its a great origin story, but speaks to a lot of the classic villains hes faced in the past - kind of a retelling. Its a very East meets West, mysticism versus technology [tale], a beautiful film done by Frank Paur and Greg Johnson is our writer on that again. He wrote all four of our first movies. For Iron Man fans, I think its really going to be a wonderful nod.
The film, which has a tentative release date of first quarter 2007, will bring back some of the voice actors from the popular Avengers pictures, including the man who brought Tony Stark to life in those films.
We have the same voice actor, Marc Worden, who did our Iron Man from the Ultimates, in this film playing Tony and Iron Man, and Fred Tatasciore, who was the Hulk and Jarvis in our first two films, is going to be playing a couple of characters as well, says Kyle. He explains, however, that the worlds of the Ultimate Avengers and Iron Man films arent necessarily the same. The reason we chose Marc is because his voice is so great. Tony is an incredibly hard character to cast sound-wise, and as soon as Marc came in he just nailed it and we said, This is our guy. So thats why we kept his voice consistent, but just like on the magazine rack, you grab Ultimates, you grab Iron Man, you grab Spider-Man - theyre all kind of their own world in a sense. And from a design standpoint, from an origin standpoint, there is no connection. Its a very different film, because we want to keep it fresh. If they all have the same look, it will be very tiring. We just want people to be happy with what they get. If we were to do an Iron Man 2, we would keep that style so that just like [with] a book, you follow creative teams, styles, and looks. Thats what we want these films to be.
ImageKyle also explains that the Korean War aspect of Tony Starks origin in the standard version of Marvel continuity will not figure in this film, but that elements of it will apply, particularly pertaining to why Stark creates his suit of armor in the first place.
Weve updated it a little bit, he says. Its the same kind of origin where a man is wounded, captured, and must find a way to repair his own heart. I mean, thats the classic! The big refrigerator suit, thats what people want to see. Again, we tweaked it a little bit, but you cannot have that [character] without that suit.
Its also important for the animation team to keep all lines of communication open with the other creative forces at work at Marvel. Whether its the comic book creators or Jon Favreau, director of the live action film, Kyle says that they speak to everyone, and that its always important to pay homage to the people who have made Iron Man, and all the comic characters, what they are today.
We speak to the comic guys, we speak to the live action guys - everyone is in the loop, he says. The live action guys absolutely see everything were doing so they can see whats being done and whats coming next, but theres not too much worry that were going to step on the toes of the feature film because theyre so different. This is a great opportunity to whet the appetites of the fans and say, Look, were behind this property, we love this character, the film is coming, but heres a great story and journey for you. So its really about supporting everyone. We hope they go back to the books. Thats why in the end credits we always take these great covers and panels and put them there, because these great stories started there and its one more way to just pay homage and say thank you to the comic book guys who did such a great job for us.
ImageThe film, which is still in the production stage and being animated overseas, has a ways to go before its completed, but Kyle is clearly very enthusiastic about the project, and so far, he says, the artwork is looking great.
Its always [a matter of] how does the animation come back from the overseas studio? he says. Weve got some beautiful stuff. Weve [still] got to see more of the action pieces, but were excited. If we can pull this together, if we can capture the beautiful journey that Frank directed and Greg Johnson [wrote], then were in amazing shape. This is a really beautiful film and it was really nice focusing on one character and his story alone. It just allows you more time to invest in the world around him.
Click here for more from Craig Kyle about Marvels heretofore mysterious fourth animated film, which we can now tell you will feature a certain Sorcerer Supreme
