Q: Robert, what about brainy women behind the operation in your case, and having your wife Susan attached as producer and hanging around?
RD: Power hungry! On a certain level, they might have thought she was going to come in and tame me, or put me in check or whatever. And that I was completely out of my mind.
But let’s talk about Happy Hogan. All right, there’s three Happy Hogans in the movie. There’s the Jon Favreau that was in actually excellent shape. He was boxing every day in pre-production and made it into the ring, the scene where he gets his ass handed to him by Scarlett. It was originally a longer scene. And maybe he was just too emasculated to actually let it be in the movie. And midway, he’s struggling with the Medifast, but occasionally he’d binge and have pizza. But then he’d say, “This is crazy, I’ve got to get back in shape.”
Q: So what was it like working with the new additions to the cast?
RD: Um, it was great. Because these are all folks that I’d be happy to work with in any circumstance and any medium. So it was just swell. As for the management of it, because I’m a little, I don’t want to say neurotic. But I felt a little bit like a co-manager of a baseball team that got an even better lineup in the spring. So I felt a little beholden, to be partially responsible for their experience. But really a lot of that fell on [Screenwriter Justin Theroux]. He had a horrible neck problem during the entire shoot. I mean, at one point I thought he was going to have his head removed.
Q: Were there any intellectual and emotional challenges?
RD: Uh, let’s see. Physically, I feel like Don and Scarlett and Mickey actually had a heavier load this time, as far as just armature. But I think we just labored really hard to say “OK, we’re audience members who made the first Iron Man successful, and we’re smart. Which is kind of why we were drawn to it, so what do we expect?”
So we kept putting ourselves in audience seats. And to me, the mental and emotional aspects and development of Tony Stark were to me, it’s strange to say personal. Because it’s not necessarily related to my life, so to speak. But just the mythology of saying you’re something and being that thing, are something entirely different.
And also this whole idea of Howard Stark and the legacy. And the shadow of that legacy that we always were talking about, Mickey and I, about being kind of two sides of the same coin. One who was able to escape that captivity, and one who saw his father die in the ruins of improper recognition. And having to reckon with that. But really, all of the characters, Black Widow/Natalie in certain places, bringing me back to an extended family I’ve always had. And Mickey as Anton is telling me that all is not well. And people have vendettas for reasons I might not understand, but I need to understand. And Rhodey is there saying, “Hey. You’ve always had me on your wing, so why won’t you really let me help you?”
[Banner falls down behind them]
RD: I was actually getting bored talking anyway! Yep. I got a little self-conscious strangely, as you were talking.
Q: This might be a little off-topic, but Robert, are you going to be the vampire Lestat, or is there any truth to that rumor?
RD: Yeah. And I mean, anything that’s going on, just imagine it’s been offered to me. But I like that you imagine we’ve been on-topic so far!
