Justin Theroux on the Iron Man II script...
"We’ve kind of got a first draft around. You know what I mean? I just got back from London where I was working with Robert and Kevin Feige. He was out there. We were talking with Robert, who’s out there doing Sherlock Holmes, he was giving his input and his notes. We’re sort of there. It’s just sort of chugging along. The crews, I think, are now starting to see what they need to make, and the places that we might be going and all the rest within the story. That’s sort of one of the more exciting times."
JT on the role War Machine will play in Iron Man II...
"We’re writing the thing, virtually the same for Rhodey that we would for any actor. We’re really taking what’s going to be the most interesting story for the fans, and what are they going to enjoy watching. And who ever’s in that part is going to have to play that part and make it work for Jon (Favreau) and the fans who are watching the movie."
JT on writing for Rhoadey/Cheadle...
"I haven’t met Don, and I think I’m going to in a little bit and I think once I get a better sense of his voice and also hear what he has to say about what he likes about the character and just pick his brain a little bit, then we’ll obviously start to tailor it to him. Once he sort of gets more involved in the process then we’ll start tapering the length of his character...making it fit just right."
JT on whether he knows if the villain is The Mandarin...
"I do know but I’m not going to let that cat out. I’ll let Jon start discussing when he thinks it’s the right time."
JT on what amount of writing in Iron Man II has to set up the Avengers movie...
"...they haven’t given us any instruction as far as we want you to do this or we want you to do that... There’s a couple little things that we’ve been working on, but it’s not that we’ve been taking meetings with Avengers people. It’s not like we’re six screenwriters sitting in a room from each movie and thinking about how we’re gonna work on each other’s things.
JT on making Iron Man II different from the first one...
"I’m not really trying to bring a different voice. I’m trying to mimic and sing in the same key as the script that was there before. If anything, I think I bring a knowledge of the way Robert’s mind works. I’ve worked with him once before. Hopefully I’ve proven I have some modicum of creative relationship with Jon and Marvel. So I really think my job is to work with them and not try and strike any new chords. Of course we want to make the story different and interesting. We want the action to be really good. But I think my job is really just to...serve the ultimate guy, which is Iron Man."
For the interview in its entirety, head on over to UGO.