Comic Book Resources caught up with Shane Black at Long Beach Comic Con this past weekend and managed to get some very interesting pieces of information out of him, including whether or not he'd be willing to adapt the classic story line, "Demon In A Bottle" for the movie. Below are a few excerpts from the interview, but be sure to click on the link below to read it in full.
On How His Grounded And Realistic Vision Will Effect Iron Man 3:
I think the approach is not just a visual or cinema-graphic approach. Iron Man is a different type of property, in a way, because Robert Downy is a different type of actor, number one. If you look at the first "Iron Man," the events of the story feels like the crossover between what's in a comic book and what's in real life. There's always been the tendency to make Iron Man the real-world superhero who deals with things a bit more rooted in geopolitical reality and then have comic book elements added. What's interesting to me about the first movie, and to some extent the second movie, is the character. If you're really paying attention to the story, the more people care about the character, the more people will care about the outcome, I think.
On The "Stylistic Stamp" He Intends On Putting On The Movie After Jon Favreau:
I believe in something I didn't make up; it's called the monkey bars approach. If you've ever been to a jungle gym, it looks on the outside very rigid and structured because there's all these bars that are locked in place and elaborately structured. But if you go inside the monkey bars, there's room to play around. So as long as the monkey bars framework exists, you can still play. What I wouldn't want to do is just play and that's it. Get the script first, get the script nailed down -- we're working very hard to ensure we're not writing the script as we approach production, that we actually know what we're doing so we can make production the process of enhancing and enriching and fulfilling the potential of our preexisting script instead of trying to make it up as we go along. I'm really thrilled to be as far along as we are, already.
On Once Again Working With Robert Downey Jr.:
Well, the great news is that Robert is a stand up guy. He sort of called me up and gave me this opportunity, in a sense, to launch a directing career. "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was an ok movie, but I don't think it did very well; no one was clamoring for me after that. I think Robert was, on the one hand, very generous, and if I can be so bold, also very smart to return to someone who really understands and adores his voice. I just love that actor, I will write for that actor any day of the week. So he turned to someone who was very diligent about understanding and appreciating what he has to bring to the film, and to the extent that I can do that, I think absolutely in terms of success of this "Iron Man 3" movie. If we get Downey and tap what he does best, we can't lose.
On The Chances Of Seeing An Adaptation Of "Demon In A Bottle":
No, because if we go there -- it's part of Tony's character, but I think the "Demon In A Bottle" aspect, if you go there, you really have to go there. The film then becomes about that, because the journey that involves recovering from alcoholism is an entire movie. I mean, I want to keep it dark and interesting and edgy and spicy and all those things, but I don't think we want to go as far as to deal with Tony's descent into alcoholic madness. That's maybe not where we want to be.
On How Iron Man 3 Will Differ From Other Comic Book Movies:
I think it would be a return to the type of action movie I remember so fondly, which is less random carnage and more thriller -- less action, more suspense. More character-driven urgency that makes you want to find out what happens to the guy, not what happens to the building behind the guy. There's a certain retro vibe that I love which is the idea of taking modern technology and shot-making and even color palettes and injecting them with this sense of thriller-esque, 1970s stuff that makes it seem more edgy and accessible as opposed to just loud and obnoxious. That's kind of where I'm heading.