The fourth post from Entertainment Weekly’s five-part one-on-one with Robert Downey Jr. has the Iron Man 3 star address additional filming that took place in China, after principal photography had wrapped. Explaining the country’s role story and business-wise, in addition, the two-time Oscar-nominated actor also looked back on his, Jon Favreau and Marvel's Iron Man 2 experience.
“Truth be told, we [did shoot in China for about a week in December] after finishing principal photography,” Downey confirmed. “There will be some action there in the film. My main interplay through the whole thing was that China figures in as a destination spot for Tony for a reason but I can’t explain [more because it would reveal] one of the ongoing themes of the movie. It’s tied-in to that theme in much the same way the 10 rings [mentioned in the first Iron Man film] are tied-in to Mandarin — and always have been tied-in to the Mandarin. On business terms and Disney hoping Iron Man 3 qualifies as a China co-production: “Let’s just say Tony has a lot of karma in the east and therefore I’ve been meeting our new Chinese partners and one of their actors — kind of the Gene Hackman of China — can and worked with us, which was a thrill and a pleasure, and I will be figuring in [a visit to] the Beijing Film Festival in our promotional tour. You know, often as business partnerships start up and form it takes time. It hasn’t really hit a critical mass, but it’s there, it’s real and it’s happening. But I suspect the real fruits of it are down the road a little bit.”
Before recalling his experience shooting Iron Man 2 and how different, better, Iron Man 3 has been, Robert Downey Jr. further explained how Shane Black’s directorship came into play. “The first six months of pre-pre-production when you get hired to a Marvel movie is like taking a four-year college course in humility. The strongest ones survive and they move into prep and then they shoot the movie and they still look like a human being. The great thing about Shane is the same thing that’s great about Shane’s movie is that all the moving parts within the frame of his story are so poetic and inherently entertaining and then thought out and rethought out. And then everyone all the way through really put their nose to the grindstone this time and I really felt like we were in a much safer playground [than we were with Iron Man 2] just because it was Shane’s vision. And he had a lot, lot, lot of time to figure out just one thing, which was to figure what the story would be.” Acknowleding the flaws of Iron Man 2, the actor added that, “Jon and I were still kind of recovering from our lives changing so much [with the success of the first Iron Man] and then next thing we were back in the saddle again. We made do.”
Marvel Studios’ “Iron Man 3” pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man? Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley, “Iron Man 3” is directed by Shane Black from a screenplay by Drew Pearce & Shane Black and is based on Marvel’s iconic Super Hero Iron Man, who first appeared on the pages of “Tales of Suspense” (#39) in 1963 and had his solo comic book debut with “The Invincible Iron Man” (#1) in May of 1968. “Iron Man 3” is presented by Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures & DMG Entertainment. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige is producing & Jon Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Stephen Broussard, Victoria Alonso, Alan Fine, Charles Newirth, Stan Lee & Dan Mintz are executive producers. The film hits May 3, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Marvel Studios will also release “Thor: The Dark World ” on November 8, 2013; “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” on April 4, 2014; “Guardians of the Galaxy” on August 1, 2014; the sequel to “Marvel's The Avengers” on May 1, 2015; and “Ant-Man” on November 6, 2015!