Shane Black And Sir Ben Kingsley Talk More About The Mandarin's Role In IRON MAN 3

Shane Black And Sir Ben Kingsley Talk More About The Mandarin's Role In IRON MAN 3

Iron Man 3 director Shane Black and Sir Ben Kingsley talk more about the role of The Mandarin in the highly anticipated threequel. "I almost want to apologize in advance to the people who want to see lasers shoot out of his rings..."

By JoshWilding - Apr 13, 2013 04:04 PM EST
Filed Under: Iron Man
Source: Total Film Magazine


Talking to Total Film Magazine, Iron Man 3 director Shane Black was quick to once again point out that despite the protestations of many a comic book fan, The Mandarin we see in the movie will have one (or should that be ten?) crucial elements missing when he's brought to the big screen in the threequel. "We decided very early on we liked the idea of taking Michael Crichton type elements and mingling them with a real world Tom Clancy environment," he said. "It's funny, I look at these blogs and some people are saying, 'What about The Mandarin's magic space rings? They should shoot lasers.' I almost want to apologize in advance to the people who want to see lasers shoot out of his rings because it's not going to happen."

While he may not have his magic rings, that won't mean that this reimagined version of The Mandarin won't be as evil as his comic book counterpart. "There are demonic layers," teases Sir Ben Kingsley when asked about what we should expect from his take on the character. "He's in a state of solitude a lot of the time, and there's nothing to give him a boundary. I go crazy. You can put him in quite a different category fro Whiplash, who's reliant on brute force. The Mandarin is reliant on manipulation of the media. He's an all-pervading presence through modern technology. He'll hack into your cell phone. He'll broadcast across the nation on TV." Interesting stuff, eh? How do you feel about this version of the villain? Sound off below.


CONTEST: Win The Chance To Chat With Kevin Feige And Shane Black For IRON MAN 3






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. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin
Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
Don Cheadle as Rhodey/War Machine
Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian
Rebecca Hall as Dr. Maya Hansen
Ashley Hamilton as Jack Taggert
James Badge Dale as Eric Savin
Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan

RELEASE DATE: April 25th, 2013 (UK). May 3rd, 2013 (US).


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thorhulk77
thorhulk77 - 4/13/2013, 4:39 PM
Look forward to Kingsley's performance.
thorhulk77
thorhulk77 - 4/13/2013, 4:40 PM
No rings huh... oh well.
GuardianAngel
GuardianAngel - 4/13/2013, 4:41 PM
I like how they changed him. I always found the magic rings thing lame.
WorstUserNameEver
WorstUserNameEver - 4/13/2013, 4:42 PM
Got a feeling Sir Ben is gonna be the best thing in IM3.
rockerdude22
rockerdude22 - 4/13/2013, 4:45 PM
Would have been cool to see the rings have their powers, but as long as Mandarin is an awesome villain and Ben does a good performance, I'll be happy.

Oh boy, better get ready for all the pissing that's gonna go on here. Better get the booze out!

TheFascinatingMan
TheFascinatingMan - 4/13/2013, 4:47 PM
I hope they're just screwing with us and he really does have them :(
hipnosis
hipnosis - 4/13/2013, 4:47 PM
so they made the Mandarin lame....I love how they like to take supervillans and totally change them because....they are so much better than 40 years of history.....Iron Man 3 sound worse and worse the more I hear about it. 1000 suits of armor and a powerless Mandarin....lame
TheFascinatingMan
TheFascinatingMan - 4/13/2013, 4:48 PM
But I'm sure El Donkey would have found out they were lying
rockerdude22
rockerdude22 - 4/13/2013, 4:49 PM
Well, he may not have them here, but there's always a chance he could have them in a future film. Maybe if they do Masters of Evil in Avengers 2?
KainAndDisabel
KainAndDisabel - 4/13/2013, 4:50 PM
How scary can a villain be that's named after a citrus fruit?! but seriously the terrorism play up compared to the magic play down is more realistic and viable in this day and age, and more fear inducing as it is something that we all can realistically relate too
robbo1701
robbo1701 - 4/13/2013, 4:51 PM
Sir bens performance is the thing I'm most looking forward to in this movie
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 4/13/2013, 4:54 PM
Only after the news about Iron Man 3 started rolling in that I learned that Mandarin is a fruit (and a title).

Before that I only associated the word with Mandy and the language.

jessepostal
jessepostal - 4/13/2013, 4:55 PM
@kain, I agree with you sir


Never was a fan of the mandarin, I think this will make him more likeable as a villain
MrCBM56
MrCBM56 - 4/13/2013, 4:56 PM
I like the idea of having Mandarin as a media whore. If this guy wants to to Bomb a building or whatever, he makes sure the world sees it. He has no fear. LOVE IT! I'm also glad they took the rings powers away. People say that the avengers had aliens, why can't we have magic rings? This isn't the avengers, this is iron mans world and the magic rings would be out of place and unordinary.
gmoney0505
gmoney0505 - 4/13/2013, 4:56 PM
DC may change something about character, comic book guru's go on a rampage spree on every social site in existence. Marvel does this and people dont even whisper about it. Just calling it like I see it. Hypocrisy at its finest.
PerfectAss
PerfectAss - 4/13/2013, 4:57 PM
I wondered what else he could without those rings of his turns out he be a (frick)ing boss
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 4/13/2013, 4:57 PM
Mandarin's rings are not, and have never been, magic.

They're alien tech.
BritishMonkey
BritishMonkey - 4/13/2013, 4:58 PM
Honestly, if there really is no magic rings I'm fine with it.
It's Ben Kingsley as Mandarin, I'm more than happy about this. He could be a literal mandarin fruit and I'd be happy.
Tomontherun99
Tomontherun99 - 4/13/2013, 4:59 PM
The Chitauri didn't shapeshift and die like battle droids, Justin Hammer was an ultra-douchey young guy, JARVIS is an AI, Stane was a father figure to Stark, Vanko was like the lovechild of Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo andRed Skull's face was actually a red skull but no one complains about that, what's with the sudden focus on comic book accuracy? Unless we've finally gotten to the point where the franchise has gotten popular enough that fans find any excuse to complain?
KainAndDisabel
KainAndDisabel - 4/13/2013, 5:01 PM
@jesse.. did you get the lynch reply on previous article?
@MrCBM56, media whore! lol but true, we have plenty of them over here, where sir Ben was trained, yes Mandy has been around for 40 years or so, even evolution needs updating every so often! ;-)
gmoney0505
gmoney0505 - 4/13/2013, 5:01 PM
Looks like Mr.CBM56 has a change of heart in less than an hour. Not long ago he was rampaging about BB not being source material in the WW article, now he's fine with this. Like I said hypocrisy at its finest.
thorhulk77
thorhulk77 - 4/13/2013, 5:02 PM
MrCBM

I agree. Im pretty sure Loki used magic in Thor. I mean hr was able to manifest himself on Earth without using the Bifrost and appear invisible to everyone including Heimdall. And when he froze Heimdall, he made the Casket of Winters appear out of thin air. Among other things.
SwingsetKnight
SwingsetKnight - 4/13/2013, 5:03 PM
I never expected or wanted the rings to shoot magic rays. That said, I am hoping that "tech maniuplative villain" doesn't mean that the Mandarin is going to be another beat-for-beat retread of this same "terrorist with the unbeatable master plan" trope we've been seeing so often. Yes, okay, it worked for the Joker. Then for the Skyfall villain (whose name I've forgotten, xD), and now apparently for the new Star Trek villain too. Just want the Mandarin to stand out a bit -- make him a new kind of terrorist, not one of Nolan's political commentaries. Nolan already did those. Let's move on.
misterr4bbit
misterr4bbit - 4/13/2013, 5:03 PM
@LEVITIKUZ i agree with your comment!
marvel72
marvel72 - 4/13/2013, 5:05 PM
@ LEVITIKUZ

the problems i had with bane were the mask & his stupid f*ckin voice.
SweatyHands
SweatyHands - 4/13/2013, 5:07 PM
My body is ready
KainAndDisabel
KainAndDisabel - 4/13/2013, 5:08 PM
Now this is turning into a decent discussion!
@Marvel72.. even that that point is true and directly on par with the new interpretation of the Mandarin! voice included!
Havenless
Havenless - 4/13/2013, 5:11 PM
El Mayimbe breaking news:

"Mandarin's rings are from Fin Fang Foom! Super magic powers! I PROMISE, cool kids!"
jessepostal
jessepostal - 4/13/2013, 5:12 PM
@kain, ya bud,I kinda half assed it, was in the middle of sound check and the in house tech was giving me the hairy eyeball haha
AC1
AC1 - 4/13/2013, 5:13 PM
I like the changes they've made. An actual Asian Mandarin might not have made sense nowadays, but having him be an ambiguous ethnicity (apparently he's actually American, and possibly former CIA or something, gone mad) who surrounds himself with Chinese Imperial symbolism both pays homage to the original character and makes sense in the context of this day and age, and also says something interesting about his character - that he's got a huge sense of self importance.

As for the rings - they're just weapons. They don't make or break the character. They don't define him. They're more important as a symbol of The Mandarin than as a weapon that gives him superpowers.

My feelings on this version of The Mandarin are like my feelings on TDKR's Bane before the film came out (and after watching the film, ignoring certain aspects of the character's history): They're very much the same character in spirit, but certain physical aspects have been changed to fit the tone of the movie. TDKR's Bane didn't need to use venom to be a threatening villain, just like this version of The Mandarin doesn't need the alien rings.
Ocelot
Ocelot - 4/13/2013, 5:16 PM
At least he's not a fu manchu, not too fussed that he doesn't have the rings, doesn't fit with the mandarin incarnation that they've gone with
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