Shaun Toub's been keeping very busy hopping from city to city to promote the dramatic movie, The Kite Runner - a film generating a lot of awards buzz. However The Kite Runner isn’t the only movie Toub’s involved with that's garnering a lot of attention. In addition to The Kite Runner and a cameo in Charlie Wilson’s War, Toub’s got another big film in the works: Iron Man.
Directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard, Iron Man is set to hit theaters in May 2008. Talking about his expectations for the movie, Toub sounded just like any other Iron Man fan when he admitted he can’t wait to see how it looks on the big screen.
Toub plays Yinsen in the film and had to study how to work with metal in order to get into his character. For those unfamiliar with the Iron Man story, Toub describes Yinsen as the creator of Iron Man. “He’s the man who really starts Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man, on his journey. He’s responsible for the beginnings of how the suit came about, what happened to his heart. He really basically starts him off on that journey.”
Toub believes fans of the Iron Man comic books will embrace the movie, but he says even those who’ve never picked up a comic will understand and enjoy the film. “It’s very different kind of comic book hero kind of movie,” explained Toub. “It’s very today. It’s very much in line with what’s going on in the world. It’s based on the storylines that you see happening right now and what’s happening in the world. It’s very different, very entertaining, very intense action-packed, but yet a great story. I haven’t seen the finished product but I can tell you that everybody who is involved very closely, they are super excited. I just finished the video game because the video game’s coming out the same day, and they are ecstatic. They are like, ‘This film is amazing!’”
The trailers for Iron Man show a healthy helping of humor along with the action. Toub confirmed that’s the tone of the entire film. “Yeah, absolutely. It’s just a mixture. He mixes it up. That’s why I say it’s a different kind of [superhero] film.”
Toub never read an Iron Man comic book before tackling the role of Yinsen. “No. I remember something as a child of Iron Man. I remember that figure on TV, black and white or something. I don’t know why I remember that…I was like two or three. I don’t know what it was but I just remember when I saw it. But did I know about it? No, which was a good thing because he is a character from the comic book that changed. I brought my own thing into it.”
Toub incorporated a twitch into his character, something even he didn’t realize he was doing until his girlfriend pointed it out to him on the set. He also was instrumental in selecting Yinsen’s wardrobe. “They had me in a different wardrobe until two days before the shoot,” revealed Toub. “And we get together with Jon Favreau and Robert [Downey Jr] and we were re-writing and writing as part of rehearsal. It wasn’t really rehearsal; we were just coming up with more stuff. I kept on saying I’m uncomfortable. My thing is that I when I read something, I need to get a visual. I always usually do and there was something missing in that. I wasn’t comfortable with the way Yinsen looked. I didn’t buy it. And two days before [shooting] somebody said something and I went, ‘Oh my God…’ It was not related to my character at all and they were talking about something else and I said, ‘Oh God, I know what this guy should look like.’ And to Jon Favreau’s credit, and to the wardrobe department’s credit, they were totally open to it. They said, ‘If that’s how you feel, let’s try it.’”
The wardrobe Toub chose was a dramatic change from the original design. “180 degrees the other way. They went shopping for me. They got it and I changed into it. I walked into the room and everybody went, ‘Oh my God, it’s him!’”
