The winner (@Jasper_UTF, a.k.a. MovieMaster) of our recent Iron Man 3 contest - in which we offered one lucky fan the chance to interview Shane Black and Drew Pearce - has gotten back to us with some highlights from their chat and they include some very interesting tidbits of information! In this latest instalment, the duo share their thoughts on the decision not to tackle the "Demon in a Bottle" storyline in Iron Man 3. As well as discussing why they felt they couldn't incorporate Tony Stark's alcoholism into the film, both Black and Pearce share their thoughts on how it could be made to work and whether they think Marvel will decide to focus on it at some point in the future.
Considering how dark Tony Stark's character is in the Marvel Universe is there anything that you wanted to put in the film but were told by the studio 'this won't play for kids'?
Shane: The drinking. Even if you look at the websites of the mommy bloggers they say, you know, 'Watch out, mom's! Tony drinks in this movie!' It's amazing. There's one or two scenes in this movie where he picks up a drink and it'll be in those blogs.
Drew: It's funny because it's only a glass of wine in this one, isn't it?
Shane: Yeah, so they'll say 'watch out because he drinks'. It's pretty amazing because it used to be you drank all the time in movies.
Drew: In our first draft Tony was a bit more rock'n'roll.
Shane: I think we were just told by the studio that we should probably paint Tony Stark as being kind of an industrialist and a crazy guy, or even a bad guy at some points, but the Demon in a Bottle stuff of him being an alcoholic wouldn't really fly. I don't blame that.
Drew: It's also kind of a 'pick your battles' thing; alcoholism is a massive problem but it's also not the best villain for a movie.
Shane: If you're gonna do alcoholism and the Mandarin, then you would really have to make the whole movie about it-
Drew: Otherwise you'll be giving it the short drift.
Shane: But I wouldn't be surprised if at some point someone wanted to make a movie and they'd run out of directions for the character, then they've still got Demon in a Bottle.
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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