Robert Downey Jr. will blast off as the Armored Avenger in Iron Man 3. Tony Stark will fall victim to the relentless attack of the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) in the Shane Black directed sequel.
Downey’s career is a story of downfalls and soaring success after rising again. In May’s GQ Downey Jr. reflects on his campaign to win the role of Tony Stark.
“I don’t know why,” he says. “I do like a bit of Jung, and it was just this kind of numinous thing.”
Downey persisted even after director Jon Favreau passed on the idea. Downey finally won a screen test.
“The missus says she could’ve woken me up in the middle of the night and I’d have recited the audition dialogue in double time.”
“It was all shock, awe, conquer—it was about devastating the competition,” he says, “Right before the first take I felt like I almost left my body—a sudden surge of nerves,” he says. “Then, all of a sudden, it was like coasting downhill on an old Schwinn Cruiser, like I could do no wrong.”
For more of the story here’s a link to GQ and pick up May issue on April 28th.
Iron Man 3 opens May 3.
By Editor
As a lifelong Marvel reader I would have never expected Iron Man to become the Marvel’s biggest cinematic superhero. As a longtime fan of Downey (going way back to Weird Science, Back to School, Less Than Zero I would have never imagined the comedic star as the Armored Avenger. Could there be a more perfect pairing of actor and role?