Tom Hiddleston, Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Russo Brothers backstage of Infinity War press conference. From RDJ’s Facebook live.
Anthony Russo: “I saw Tom in the hotel gym this morning, working out. You can see the marvelous effects of it here.” I.e., his ass, apparently.
I love how Hiddleston is dressed to the nines in a well-pressed suit with a tie and sharp dress shoes while everyone else looks like they just rolled in off the street. Anthony Russo and RDJ are wearing track jackets, Mark Ruffalo says his dresser forgot to set aside an outfit, Tom Holland admits he’s wearing his only clean clothes…
I’m amused that RDJ commented on how high the chairs are for all those short people, except Hiddleston. TH1 is the only one whose feet touch the ground, and he looks weirdly cramped when he puts his feet on the bar across the chair legs.
Not exactly video-related, but: the fact that Hiddleston is doing all this press for Infinity War strongly suggests that Loki will not die in the first 5 minutes. I find this immensely comforting.
“At the time, Boyega’s talent agency, CAA, also represented “Iron Man” star Robert Downey Jr., who is no stranger to this sort of fame. So he sent an email to Downey’s agent saying, essentially, “Hi, I’m John. I’m going to be in ‘Star Wars.’ If he has time, can Robert Downey Jr. mentor me?” He wasn’t exactly sure that it would result in anything, but figured it was worth a shot. Later, Boyega remembers he was driving in London when he got a call from an unknown number. “Who’s this?” Boyega demanded. “It’s Robert,” the voice said. “Robert who, man?” “Uh, Robert, Downey Jr.” “I’m like, oh crap! Iron Man!” Boyega recalled. “I had better park up.” They talked for two hours that day. It was the start of a true friendship that’s since resulted in more hours-long chats, hang-outs, and even a chicken and waffles date. “Good lord we get deep,” Boyega said of their conversations. “For the most part it’s definitely private, but in general, his thing has always been inner peace and how to deal with this on a mental level. Taking care of your mental health is something that he talks to me about.” “He’s really changed my life with his advice.””
RDJ: Toughest part in being Iron Man are the close-up shots.
In an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Movies, in preparation for the release of the second Iron Man 3 trailer, Robert Downey Jr. says the toughest part of playing Iron Man is filming scenes with the “Heads Up Display” view, which allows viewers to see Downey’s face up close whenever Tony Stark dons the metal suit.
From Yahoo:
“When you do the HUD work, usually it’s kind of the last thing in the schedule,” Downey said. “And you’re going back and essentially living the movie again in close-up, tired.”
Basically, Downey has to relive all of the action scenes in the movie they already shot and deliver the same level of intensity even though he’s standing still and there’s nothing for him to actually react to. That includes performing some of his most emotional scenes, like in The Avengers when he is unable to contact Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) while he is flying to what he believes will be his death.
Downey explained it this way: “I don’t like, [as himself] ‘All right. What’s happening now?’ [as the director] ‘Oh, the most important woman in your life is falling off crane into a fiery pit. Okay? So, let’s just rehearse once and then we’ll do it about 10 or 12 times until the camera is right and you’ve given enough.’ They’re just screaming direction at you… I like the scenes. I like the action.”
Avengers: Infinity War is going to bring together Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy to do battle with Thanos and that alone is reason enough to be excited about Marvel Studios’ next movie. During a recent chat with Empire Magazine, Chris Pratt was asked about working alongside Robert Downey Jr. and shared some very interesting insight into how the actor conducts himself.
While you might think Downey keeps himself to himself and stays in his massive trailer between takes, it turns out that he’s willing to do anything and everything to help his fellow actors and went Pratt was in need, the Iron Man star was quick to give him a helping hand on the set of Avengers: Infinity War.
“Man, he set a really amazing tone. He’s a bit like Tony Stark himself. I think a lot of what makes Tony Stark are the same qualities that make Downey great. I think Downey is about as rich as Tony Stark now. [Laughs] He really takes care of the actors around him in a way I’ve never seen before. I was a little under the weather and pushing really hard on the days I was working. He came up to me and said, ‘You doing alright?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ve got a little sore throat.’ Within ten minutes there was a person here giving me all these herbs and taking care of me. He offered me the use of his trailer where I could sit down and use some of his hi-tech healing gadgets. It was amazing. I’m living my best life.”
Pratt went on to reveal that he actually heard from Downey when he was first cast as Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy and it’s something which has had a significant impact on him moving forward.
“When I first arrived in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Downey was the first to call and tell me, ‘Hey man, welcome. If there’s anything you need, I will help. There are so few people on the planet who are going through what you’re going through right now. I have, so I’m here. I’ll always answer the phone.’ I feel completely empowered to pay it forward with Tom or Chadwick. I’m not saying that I’m senior to them, other than I got that experience of opening a movie with Marvel and being along for the ride. Now I just really feel compelled to offer them, even if it’s a fraction of what Downey was able to offer me, and just say, ‘Anything you need, you let me know.’"
In preparation for Infinity War (sort of), I just re-watched Iron Man (2008) for the first time in 3 years. Some thoughts:
I guess they were doing this on purpose, but early Tony’s attitude toward women is really pretty gross… and Pepper kind of reinforces it with her loyalty to Tony and her attitude toward the women he sleeps with (“sometimes I even take out the trash”). That seems to support the stereotypical division between women you hook up with and women you marry – trashy, disposable women and respectable, valuable women. That aspect of the movie has not aged well.
I also kind of winced at the generic Arab-looking terrorists. Yinsen did say they were from a variety of nations, speaking a variety of languages including European ones, but they still all looked vaguely brown and threatening. As usual, that part of the world is mostly divided into villains and victims; Tony needs to fly in with his high-tech suit to save the poor villagers (though it was a good touch that he didn’t personally take vengeance on the man who captured and tortured him). Yinsen is something of an exception, since he’s shown having skill, ingenuity, and initiative… but then he sacrifices himself to save Tony. Of course.
Having gotten used to Don Cheadle playing Rhodey, it’s very weird to see Terrence Howard in the role. What a strange recast. Facial structure, skin tone, vocal register, and general manner are all completely different. Don Cheadle strikes me as more serious, so more believable as a high-ranking military officer, but Terrence Howard seems more like the kind of guy who hung out with Tony Stark in college and continues to put up with his shit.
I love Coulson so much. It’s so funny to see him in his first movie appearance, now that he’s become a running gag and then a sacrificial lamb and then one of the heroes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He does mild-mannered and put-upon so adorably.
How far Tony Stark has come! And Robert Downey, Jr. has shepherded him gradually and organically through his maturation from self-centered, immature playboy to cocky, self-assured part-time hero to struggling PTSD sufferer to adult man trying to carry the world on his shoulders (and co-raise a teenage kid) while still maintaining a dry sense of humor and a cool facade. Tony has had the most consistent, compelling character arc in the MCU and surely one of the major reasons for that is that RDJ cares so much about him and goes to bat for the integrity of the character.
wOW rdj talking about tony and steve is SUCH A WILD RIDE like one second it’s “for me i just think about obadiah’s deception” and then “i don’t know what i’m gonna do when chris is not cap anymore” and “mY FIRST INSTINCT WOULD BE TO BUST STEVE’S JAW PROBABLY” and “STEVE JUST HAS THE TRUEST MORAL PSYCHOLOGY” “but can tony really in good conscience pick up that phone to call steve” “LOVE YOU CAP” oh my god that is why rdj and chris evans could literally have like, cardboard, actual literal cardboard for scripted lines and the chemistry between them would still flow RDJ LIKES CHRIS SO MUCH AND TONY AND STEVE ARE SO INTENSE AND EXPLOSIVE i’m gonna cry
Loki is the Philosopher King 