In 2008, Robert Downey Jr was prepared for a undertaking he may actually sink his tooth into, one thing explosive and character-driven. Cue Iron Man, which had already modified arms a number of instances since 1990, when Common first purchased the movie rights to the Marvel comedian.
Over the following decade, a number of high-profile actors expressed curiosity within the position, with Nicolas Cage tossing his hat into the ring in 1997 and Tom Cruise doing the identical in 1998. After a number of rewrites and an ill-fated try to rent Quentin Tarantino as director, Marvel Studios started the undertaking from scratch, saying that the movie can be the studio’s first unbiased function.
In 2006, Jon Favreau was employed to direct the undertaking. However Iron Man nonetheless wanted a number one man with the charisma to determine Marvel Studios as a viable unbiased manufacturing firm. Favreau believed that the movie wouldn’t require an costly a-lister, so he opted to solid a relative newcomer within the title position, hoping that the character of Iron Man can be sufficient to herald the punters.
Favreau initially approached Sam Rockwell for the position, who expressed curiosity. Nevertheless, the director rapidly modified his thoughts after watching this display screen take a look at by Robert Downey Jr, through which the actor demonstrates that he was certainly born for the position.
Discussing the casting course of in behind-the-scenes bonus materials, casting director Sarah Halley Finn recollects: “Jon was in love with the thought of Downey taking part in the half, and all of us felt so positive about him on a inventive stage. As a result of he wasn’t a slam-dunk approval, I advised we do screentests. I bear in mind strolling in with Robert Downey Jr the day of the exams. He was laughing and in nice spirits and fully comfortable, and he obtained in entrance of the digicam and began saying the strains.”
Downey Jr stunned even himself. “I don’t wish to name it an out-of-body expertise, but it surely was a kind of rushes that I’m positive, like, anyone would really feel in the event that they had been about to play an enormous sporting enviornment,” the actor later recalled. “It was similar to, ‘am I gonna cross out, or am I gonna nail this?” After all, he nailed it. By the tip of the display screen take a look at, Favreau, Finn, and her fellow casting administrators knew that no one else would be capable of play the half in addition to Downey.
“It was magic,” Finn continued. “It was like, ‘we’ve got it – that is our man.’”
