Iron Man LA Times on Iron Man!

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(Nice modified pic of Iron Man with the smoke)

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Zade Rosenthal / Paramount

Director Jon Favreau, right, grew up reading the “Iron Man” comics. It took three years to make the film, the debut production from Marvel Studios.


'Iron Man': L.A.'s hometown hero

'Iron Man' leaps onto the big screen, in all his egocentric, wealthy, morally compromised glory -- and takes Los Angeles with him.[/color]

By Geoff Boucher, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

12:11 PM PST, January 10, 2008
YOU can't find Metropolis on a real U.S. map but if you did, it's a sure bet that its harbor would sit on the Atlantic. The same goes for Batman's gloomy Gotham City. The real Manhattan, meanwhile, can claim both Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four while the X-Men live in (of all places) suburban New York. Hollywood has been churning out multiple masked-man films in recent years, but how come their heroes all live on the East Coast? The Hulk bounced through San Francisco on film years ago (not that anybody was paying attention), but what about Los Angeles, the second-biggest city in America, which somehow doesn't rate an NFL team or a local hero? "That's going to change in a big way," a smiling Jon Favreau promised a few months ago on the Playa Vista set of "Iron Man," which opens May 2. Favreau was standing in front of a huge window with a faux view of the twinkling lights of the Malibu coastline. "L.A. is getting a superhero that's perfect for the city." That's true. In Iron Man, a Marvel Comics character who dates to 1963, the City of Angels is getting a hero who is sleek but self-centered, fabulously rich but morally compromised and (most fittingly) built for speed but bad for the environment.

"He has to live in Los Angeles and there's a real sense of the place in his story and in his character," says Favreau, who grew up reading the comics and has devoted three years to bringing the armor-plated hero to the screen. "A lot of things that are unique to Southern California are in this film. I couldn't imagine it being anywhere else."

The region's aviation industry history and singular car culture, for example, helped shape the images and sensibility of the film, and Howard Hughes is a strong, if unlikely, model for Tony Stark, the alter ego of Iron Man, who is portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. Downey isn't the only highly regarded actor on board for the film: There's also Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges.

"The quality of the cast, the pure talent involved, it speaks to the ambition of the material and the fact that this movie is trying to accomplish more than some people might expect from a comic book movie," said Kevin Feige, president of production for Marvel Studios, which is launching its own brand with this film (distributed by Paramount Pictures) after watching traditional Hollywood powers earn more than $2.7 billion off its characters since 2000. "There's a story here and a hero who is going to surprise people."

The character was a surprise right from its four-color beginnings when writer and co-creator Stan Lee envisioned a story that had geopolitical shadings and a less-than-shining protagonist. Back then, Stark was a young, handsome and arrogant inventor and munitions mogul who is eager to help the war on Communism and travels to Vietnam to see how his mini-transistors are helping American campaigns in the country.

He gets badly injured, though, and captured by enemy forces who put him to work on a weapon that will help their cause. But that invention -- a flying suit of armor with powerful weapons -- provides Stark with his escape and a new outlook on his role in the world.

The core of that story was deeply appealing to Favreau, who has made two youth movies, "Zathura" and "Elf," that possess old souls and an unexpected slyness. He updated the setting to Afghanistan and focused on the notion that the suit is more about salvation than super-sizing; the Iron Man costume is like a giant pacemaker of sorts and it's the only thing keeping the flawed hero's battered heart pumping.

There's something especially satisfying about the casting of Downey, who gives Stark a droll sense of humor and irony that immediately sets the character apart from the stiff heroes that have filled so many movies.

During a break in shooting, Downey -- still wearing a round, glowing chest-piece that is part of the suit's coronary support system -- said he's having a blast playing the hero and he's eager "to get my picture on a Slurpee cup like Johnny Depp."

Downey said he hopes that "Iron Man" will fly across L.A. skies for the next few years as a franchise. "The films that used to be made about comics characters were so shallow in ambition and cardboard in their plots and characters, it wasn't worth anyone's time. That's changed, and this is great, this is like playing an American version of James Bond in a flying Ferrari suit."

I'm happy as hell everyone seems to have expectations beyond the 1st film from top to bottom. Nice!
 
Ya I'm really ready for the next trailer lol.
 
Excellent article. As someone who lives in L.A., I'm glad to see that my city will have a superhero on the big screen. Hollywood makes all the popular superhero movies like Spider-man and Batman who are set in other cities; it's time that they get one as well.
 
Very good article, Iron Man usually a East Coast hero, has spent much of his career in LA and Seattle over the last 20 years, so it's fitting that LA be his base of operations.
And I agree with AD, that its very nice to hear RDJ say he's looking forward to doing more than one of these movies, as a life long Iron Man fanatic, I can't get enough of ol' shellhead on the big screen.
 
Great Read!!! YAY 4 LA. it needs a superhero. HAHAHAHAHAHA
 
i wish orlando fla. could get its own super -hero or action hero
i do recall that cocoa beach has a resident super being namely JEANNIE
 
"YOU can't find Metropolis on a real U.S. map but if you did, it's a sure bet that its harbor would sit on the Atlantic."

Uh, yes, you CAN find Metropolis on a real U.S. map. It's on the southern-most tip of Illinois. I'm a trained journalist, and nothing gets me going more than hacks who don't do their homework.
 
"YOU can't find Metropolis on a real U.S. map but if you did, it's a sure bet that its harbor would sit on the Atlantic."

Uh, yes, you CAN find Metropolis on a real U.S. map. It's on the southern-most tip of Illinois. I'm a trained journalist, and nothing gets me going more than hacks who don't do their homework.

:whatever: Talk about freaking out over nothing...
 
The point was to show that of the comicbook superhero locations, Metropolis where Superman reside's can't be found on a map, we are very much aware that there is a real Metropolis, just not the size of LA or New York.
 
i wish orlando fla. could get its own super -hero or action hero
i do recall that cocoa beach has a resident super being namely JEANNIE

Well nearby Tampa got the Punisher.:oldrazz: :cwink: :woot:
 
"The quality of the cast, the pure talent involved, it speaks to the ambition of the material and the fact that this movie is trying to accomplish more than some people might expect from a comic book movie," said Kevin Feige, president of production for Marvel Studios, which is launching its own brand with this film (distributed by Paramount Pictures) after watching traditional Hollywood powers earn more than $2.7 billion off its characters since 2000. "There's a story here and a hero who is going to surprise people."


Good read and I especially like reading that line in bold. :yay:
 
good read. Reminds me of the good old days when Iron Man was in Cali with the West Coast Avengers and Force Works.
 
"The films that used to be made about comics characters were so shallow in ambition and cardboard in their plots and characters, it wasn't worth anyone's time. That's changed, and this is great, this is like playing an American version of James Bond in a flying Ferrari suit."

I know exactly what he's talkin' about. Spidey 3, X3, GR, FF movies; I'm lookin' at you!
 
Tony maybe an Angelino this time around (I'm glad because it's time LA gets its own superhero), but he's still a born Long Islander.

But Cap better be a Brooklynite.
 
Like the article says, if any superhero would come from LA, it´d be Tony Stark...
 
Registration is free, but here you go.

Diagramming an effective ad blitz for the Super Bowl

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IRON AGE: Robert Downey Jr. stars in “Iron Man,” which may become a comic book franchise

Studios will promote sci-fi, action and comedy movies during the big game.
By John Horn, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 1, 2008
Hollywood's infatuation with Super Bowl advertising can be a love-hate relationship: For every great "War of the Worlds" football launch, there's a "Hulk" preview that leaves the Super Bowl as bruised as a losing lineman.

With 30-second spots costing more than $2.7 million, even a quick Super Bowl pitch can eat up nearly 10% of a movie's television advertising budget. But because the audience is so huge -- more than 93 million viewers watched last year's game -- and TV viewers look forward to the commercials, it's irresistible placement. All of the major movie studios except Warner Bros. are buying at least one spot during the game.

"The commercials in the Super Bowl are in themselves an event," says Damon Wolf, the president and chief executive officer of Crew Creative Advertising, a leading movie marketing firm. "But what you are putting up there has to deliver. It has to be exciting."

With Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, General Motors and even the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy scheduled to be among those running ambitious Super Bowl ads, it will not be easy for the movie studios to make an impression. But if they do, those ads can have an entire second life on the Internet.
Within 10 minutes of their broadcast, Super Bowl ads can be seen -- and rated -- on www.spike.com, which is the new Web home for a similar Super Bowl ad site started by iFilm.com. Among the football spots, movie ads tend to get special attention.

"The people who go to our site are entertainment enthusiasts," says Jon Slusser, a senior vice president for Spike Digital. When visitors find a Super Bowl movie ad they like, it can get many repeat viewings -- 5 million unique visitors came to the site after last year's game.

"That's the whole point," Slusser says. "They see an ad during the Super Bowl, and they want to experience it again and share it with their friends."

Here's a look at what each studio will be promoting:

Disney. Look for the studio to run two spots for high-profile summer releases. May 16's fantasy sequel "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" will receive one of the Super Bowl slots, with June 27's "Wall-E," the next animated Pixar film, getting the other position.

New Line. The studio will plug Will Ferrell's basketball comedy "Semi-Pro," which opens Feb. 29.

Paramount. The studio has crafted a new commercial for May 2's "Iron Man," a movie Paramount and Marvel believes is the next comic book franchise. It will tout March 21's "Drillbit Taylor" in the pre-game show, and Feb. 14's "Spiderwick Chronicles" and March 28's "Stop-Loss" during "House" after game coverage.

Sony. The studio is considering running a spot for July 2's Will Smith action spectacle "Hancock" but is now putting all its Super Bowl eggs in the basket of Adam Sandler's "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," opening June 6.

Twentieth Century Fox. The studio contemplated running an ad for March 14's "Horton Hears a Who" but will instead hawk the sci-fi thriller "Jumper," opening Feb. 14.

Universal. Probably the biggest Sunday spender of the major studios, Universal will have movie ads throughout the day. April 4's football comedy "Leatherheads" will be pushed during the game, as will June 27's futuristic action-adventure drama "Wanted." Look for spots for next Friday's "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" and the Feb. 19 DVD release of "American Gangster."
 
That photo of Stark floating in front of the cars is killer!

Universal. June 27's futuristic action-adventure drama "Wanted."

Why did Universal move "Wanted" two weeks from Incredible Hulk? Why crowd its breathing room?

after watching traditional Hollywood powers earn more than $2.7 billion off its characters since 2000.

That's just an unbelievable number.
 

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