Robert Downey Jr. On Working With Heads-Up Display As IRON MAN

Ahead of the site's exclusive premiere of the second theatrical trailer tomorrow, Yahoo! Movies sat down with Iron Man 3 star Robert Downey Jr. to discuss the challenges of portraying the Armored Avenger. One of the biggest challenges is working with Heads-Up Display (HUD), which is used for scenes when you can't see Downey's face behind his mask. The actor says that using it for Marvel Studios' latest effort wasn't easier than before, and compares it to recording voice-overs for commercials. Despite loving it, Downey says, "but you wouldn't know from my disposition every time I have to go in and work, because it's like irritation therapy."

He then goes into more detail about the actual process of using HUD, saying that he goes in to record after all the action scenes are finished. Thus he'll have to act as intense when he's alone recording as he would if he was actually in the scenes. "When you do the HUD work, usually it's kind of the last thing in the schedule. And you're going back and essentially leaving the movie again in close-up, tired." He then teases a possible sequence from Iron Man 3 featuring Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). "I don't like, [as himself] 'All right. What's happening now?' [as the director] 'Oh, the most important woman in your life is falling off crane into a fiery pit. Okay? So, let's just rehearse once and then we'll do it about 10 or 12 times until the camera is right and you've given enough.' They're just screaming direction at you... I like the scenes. I like the action."

Downey then talks about wearing a physical Iron Man suit on set, saying that his Iron Man 3 costume is "lighter; it's more flexible.." However, he goes on to say that, "There is no comfortable version of it, so it's kind of like, 'Hey, don't you think these bamboo chutes are actually a little less rough on the cuticle until they get down to the nerve?'" Stay tuned to CBM tomorrow for Yahoo!'s premiere of the new trailer for Iron Man 3.

Iron Man 3 stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau and Sir Ben Kingsley. The film is set to hit theaters May 3rd.

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