After a lackluster Part 2, the Iron Man franchise will be rejuvenated thanks to Hollywood wunderkind Shane Black, a guy who not only gets along great with his new star Robert Downey Jr., but a guy who can write successful blockbuster screenplays in six weeks time. The two first worked together on Black’s first directorial effort, 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which had a $15 million budget and was about a petty criminal who accidentally finds himself cast in a Hollywood film. Obviously, none of that will come into play for a Marvel movie, but it proves that the team of Black & Downey is a very, very fun one.
According to the LA Times, Downey just finished working on his scenes for next year’s The Avengers, and is now moving on to another full-length go at Tony Stark. But that movie will not involve the previous director, Jon Favreau. By the end of the Iron Man 2 shoot, Favreau and Downey were not getting along and it made for a pretty “meh” final product. (As far as critics were concerned.) They get along fine now, but Favreau has other directorial fish to fry, including Disney‘s Magic Kingdom. But it looks like Downey will be really happy to work with Black again:
“He’s more than the sum of his parts and he’s also kind of been a sleeper for a long time,” Downey said. “We’re not talking much about [the script] right now because Shane is off writing and we talked before that and when we are talking again the talking is going to be over pretty quick [because we’re on the same page]. It’s kind of like we’re fighting on the same side and at the same time we’re circling each other, so it’s all great. It should be great.”
He goes on to say that not only is he happy about working with Black, but so is Favreau, and they wouldn’t have it any other way:
“Bringing in Shane Black to write and direct ‘Iron Man 3′ to me is basically the only transition from Favreau to a ‘next thing’ that Favreau and the audience and Marvel and I could ever actually sign off on.”
Favreau’s departure, however, does not mean that this is the end of Tony Stark’s buddy Happy Hogan. If the money is right.
Fun fact: Shane Black wrote the screenplay for Lethal Weapon in six weeks. He was 23 at the time.
Published: Aug 19, 2011 04:12 pm