Director Christopher Nolan and actor Robert Downey Jr. stopped by a number of outlets to promote their upcoming biographical thriller film, Oppenheimer.
Oftentimes, the pair were interviewed together, which prompted questions about their time at the forefront of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Batman franchise, respectively.
Indeed, if you were around on the site back in the day, the height of the Marvel vs. DC flamewars centered around Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.
Iron Man was released on May 8, 2008, and was the talk of the town until The Dark Knight hit on July 18, 2008. For many years after, the comment section around these parts could sometimes be hot to the touch.
Jumping back to present day, Nolan was a recent guest on MTV correspondent Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast and shared his thoughts on Robert Downey Jr.'s turn as Iron Man. Apparently, he's a big fan.
"When Favreau had the insight to cast him as Iron Man, it was one of the greatest casting decisions in the history of movies," said Nolan.
High praise, indeed.
Elsewhere, the pair were jointly interviewed by Wired, where RDJ was asked what a Christopher Nolan Avengers movie would look like.
"If Christopher Nolan had directed The Avengers, we'd still be shooting it," said Downey, a nod to the fact that Nolan does not like to use CG in his films. For his part, Nolan asked Downey if he would be prepared to get on a real-life jetpack.
The full Wired interview is below, and it's a must-watch.
Downey also spoke with IMDB, where he revealed that he was initially a bit intimidated to join the film given Nolan's mystique, but he quickly realized once he arrived on set that Nolan was, "Christopher is arguably one of the least judgmental directors I have ever experienced... It's not about control; it's about precision."
When asked about how Nolan responded to Downey's well-known penchant for improvisation, Downey stated, "[Nolan] did say, 'Robert, you seem to be doing a lot of improv out there; if you get scared out there, just float gently back to the text.'"
[Note: These interviews were conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, which officially commenced on July 14, 2023, at midnight.]