Why the new writer, Justin Theroux?
"Well, I love the first two sets of writers that I had worked with. Robert [Downey Jr] had a very good relationship with Justin. We found somebody who can help bring a voice to him. But the writing is such a collaborative process; it’s not like I wrote Swingers, we shot Swingers. This is like, 'Here’s the basic story. Here’s the basic scenes. Here’s the basic structure, here are the basic set pieces. Let’s start drawing and storyboarding these moments. Now, how do we connect all of this?' And then the last step is the actual writing of it. But I have the whole story in my head by the time the script actually emerges."
Will you have a 'story by' credit?
"It’s part of directing. As a writer, I think it’s unfair because of the amount of work that the writers do do. I think that everybody has their role, but everybody overlaps. Justin Theroux shot some footage for me. Robert wrote a lot of his own stuff and was involved with the story process from the beginning. Gwyneth [Paltrow] comes in. Everybody improvises."
How fluid was it? Was the script locked eventually?
"They never are. We locked script last week when we shot the last scene."
What’s the intensity factor with Robert Downey Jr and Mickey Rourke together?
"Mickey and Robert didn’t work together a lot, and Robert had really gone out of his way to get Mickey involved. They were on the tour for the awards season last year together. They kept popping up at the same events because they were both nominated. So Mickey was definitely very, I think, appreciative that Robert fought so hard to get him, as did I. So off camera there was a lot of mutual respect and appreciation. But, of course, on camera, they’re two strong forces that definitely squared off against one another."
What did Mickey and Scarlett Johansson add to the game?
"Well, Scarlett brings a new [element that] not only works us towards The Avengers but also changed the dynamic between Robert and Gwyneth. One of the other traps you don’t want to fall into is just repeating the same dynamics and turn it into Hart to Hart. You don’t want it to be Moonlighting. You don’t want to have the same thing over and over again. It’s not a television series, but I don't know that you would like it for these guys. It’s a movie so you have to change things and you have to create a beginning, middle and an end so that it doesn’t just feel like an episode in a series of films. So by introducing her, that changes their dynamic. Scarlett appears in their life and has, as you can see, just a tremendous presence."
"With Mickey Rourke, I didn’t want to just have two guys in robot suits hitting each other again. I wanted to have a different type of villain that used the same technology, existed within the same framework and rules of our world, but that was going to present not just a challenge physically but also in how dark he was and also how he’s related and how his fate and Tony’s fate are connected."
How do you have time to act?
"I pushed it a little too hard this time. I was shooting I Love You, Man the week this movie came out, which was very weird to be on the phone with Jeffrey Katzenberg, sitting getting ready to be on the set of a movie sitting in like a small trailer as a supporting player on a low budget comedy. It was just a surreal experience. Then Couples Retreat I was writing. I was supposed to direct that. Vince had the idea. He was producing it. We were both going to star and I was going to direct, but because Iron Man’s release date was coming so fast, I couldn’t."
"I worked on the script for about a year and had to put it down during the strike even, and then came back to it. Then I had to start working on Iron Man, so Vince rewrote it and Peter Billingsley, who’s been a collaborator with us, directed it. I got to carve out the time in the schedule to act in it, but I just went from project to project to project, as did Robert, and it’s a little overwhelming. I’m going to have to try to find time in here somehow."
Is the thought that Avengers is the third Iron Man or is there an Iron Man 3?
"There’s an Iron Man 3. Here’s how I know. When they make the option deals, they include Iron Man 3 so I know they’re planning on 3. Whether that would be before or after Avengers... They’ve announced that Avengers is next but they pushed back The Avengers once, which I thought was encouraging."
Does that give you more time to breathe?
"It does, and my involvement has yet to be determined on that project. Remember, you have to take into account what Thor is and you don’t know that until the film’s locked. You’re not going to know about Thor for two years, what that really means. And Captain America, they haven’t even started prepping yet. So there’s a lot of discovery that has to take place before you can understand what Avengers really is."
What's your place in that process?
"We talk about it and really Iron Man is their flagship franchise right now that we’re making a sequel for. It’s the one that’s informing the others the most. So I feel like I’m chopping my way through the jungle and Avengers will eventually be an oasis somewhere down the line. I’m pretty much hands-on day-to-day, just on Iron Man, but I think they’ll learn from what I’m discovering now that will inform the next one."
