Facing off against Captain America in Friday film Captain America: Civil War is Tony Stark aka Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr. A chat with the 51-year-old star on Stark the man and superhero, his changing equation with Cap and what the new film has in store for fans.
Talk about what’s happening with Tony Stark personally when the story opens...
There are all these concentric circles of events that are occurring and it begs the question: ‘Why doesn’t anybody bug out on these Avengers when they lay waste to these places while they’re saving the world?’ And Tony is thinking it’s about time, but then it creates this new problem set that needs to be addressed, which is having to register and being unable to act with the same autonomy that they have all along. What makes the stories fun is that the Avengers never do anything perfectly, but they’re righteous, principled people and they genuinely care about each other. So what happens if you have different personalities who wind up splitting on principle-based arguments?
I like the fact that, at the beginning, Tony is finally realising that with all this money he has inherited, let alone all the money he’s made, that he’s supposed to do something. He’s feeling a little misty about his folks much more than in Iron Man 2 (2010). This time I feel like he’s a grown man and he’s actually giving back to the school that probably kept him from getting too spun-out after being raised with this tragic loss of his parents.
There’s also the fact that Tony and Pepper (his wife, played by Gwyneth Paltrow) are naturally going through some struggles. Their relationship is in the balance, as well as the Avengers’. If there’s one thing that’s been very clearly set up, it’s that Steve (Rogers aka Captain America) and Tony have a past and that their past spans several generations.
Do you think he’s feeling his conscience as a result of the things that have happened?
They say things happen in threes. So Pepper’s kind of blowing him off for the time being, and their relationship is going to take a lot of repair. He has this one-on-one confrontation with a stranger that he can’t really process. Then these Sokovia Accords (a set of internationally ratified legal documents providing regulation and frame-working for the military deployment of enhanced individuals, particularly the Avengers) are in the air, and he has an uneasy alliance with Thaddeus Ross (who serves as US Secretary of State in this film). It’s just cool storytelling. There are a bunch of different components rolling around. I didn’t want it to be written out so boldly like: ‘Well of course Tony’s going to….’ I wanted it to feel like he acts as if he’s not affected by this but when he’s with the team he says: ‘I’m affected by this in a big way. My mind’s completely made up.’
Talk about William Hurt coming back into the picture...
Folks that have been with the Marvel Cinematic Universe before often rejoin or come back in a more significant way. So if you get William Hurt, it makes sense to use him, and I think that he really creates a cool character with Secretary Ross. It’s funny because Tony has a bit of a trippy arc to him but I adore the guy. I could just sit around and watch him work or hang out and talk about meditation and history. The best version I could imagine of myself moving forward is not unlike him because he continues to educate himself. You can see that he’s definitely kind of an old-school guy, but he’s also very in the moment in a way that I think was inspiring to the rest of the cast.
Let’s talk about your team.
Team Iron Man. I was tickled to get Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson). Since Iron Man 2 Natasha, aka Black Widow, has never shared an hour with Tony where one of them wasn’t trying to deceive the other one. Particularly after Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and how close she and Cap were, I just never expected it to go this way. It’s perfect. Wrestling her away from Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) was also a really smart, cool idea. Obviously, we don’t want to be in a universe where Rhodey (played by Don Cheadle) and Tony Stark aren’t still brothers. They’ve been through so much that there would almost be too many fractures if they parted ways. And there’s some recruiting going on for Tony’s team as well.
When you first heard about doing this movie, what got you excited?
The Avengers movies were always these colossal, ambitious things but to me, Civil War was the smart, sexy Marvel idea. You don’t want to see these two characters create a tear in the fabric of their relationship because you know how pervasive it can be. So it gives you a fair amount to play with. I’ve always liked the idea of how do you recover from that. What has to happen for there to be any sort of homeostasis by the end of a rift like that between Steve and Tony?
What is Tony feeling towards Steve?
There are a lot of words exchanged, but I think the undertone for Tony is that he’s been falling short of his dad’s memory of Steve for a long time and that his best friend is the one that’s creating all this trouble. Also, just the fact that he makes everything difficult because he’s being righteous about his point of view, but he’s not really behaving in a way that Tony would say is particularly righteous. He’s keeping secrets. He’s on his own page doing his own deal and he has this long-standing agenda with this damaged, very dangerous guy. So for me as a middle-aged father who has kids of varying ages, it’s as if Tony’s in a parental position with this whole thing and he feels like Steve’s being an irresponsible adult.
Were you excited to hear they were going to introduce Black Panther?
First of all, I think it’s just really bold and smart, and I think it’s a sign of how Marvel keeps reacting and responding to what the fans want. They want more diversity and excitement. Chadwick (Boseman, who plays Black Panther) is a really intelligent, interesting, dynamic guy and he’s an excellent choice. You need somebody in this story who sees everyone picking sides and drawing lines but has his own agenda that is personal to his own trajectory.
Can you tell us about any new suit upgrades?
In Iron Man 3 (2013), we stripped down Tony to MacGyver without a budget but there are a couple of little things that happen in this one that I’m really stoked on. A little bit of new tech that he has helps give them a fighting chance against Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) when they go hand in hand. Pretty much if you pick a character on Tony’s side or not, he’s had an influence. Joss Whedon gave us that entree in the first Avengers and then it really picked up in Ultron, so now it’s understood. If anyone needs anything, Tony makes it.
Was it weird fighting people who used to be on your side?
My mindset in playing Tony Stark is always that with anything he’s doing, he’s not surprised about. He thinks he’s doing it for a reason, in that he’s probably right. If he’s not, he’ll find out later but there are moments where you see that the team is definitely at odds with what they’re about to do.
What has been the most fun thing for you on this film?
To me, it’s just been a return to a sense of freedom and collaboration, which is what I joined this party for. It’s this massive industry now, but at the end of the day when it’s just me inhabiting the character of Tony Stark so that I can really sell it, I’m still having fun.
What makes Chris Evans a great Captain America?
He’s like the Spencer Tracy of Marvel. He stands there, tells the truth and then kicks ass in a way that you really believe. His physicality is top notch. Captain America was the single hardest character to launch in this universe and Chris did it the first time, the second time, in both Avengers movies, and he’s doing it again. I think he was not overwhelmed but very surprised and somewhat taken aback by the amount of love he gets. When I go to the shopping centres now, I see 20 Captain America shirts wherever I go. It’s ceased to become just about him and how well he inhabited the role. It’s become part of our culture as a symbol. I have really enjoyed Chris and we work in different ways, but I deeply respect the guy. I learn from working with him.
What do you think audiences will connect to in this movie?
I think people are really going to be pleasantly surprised and intrigued by the journey of the choices that Cap makes and the fact that you stay with him. It’s familiar and easy to go on the serendipitous hero side of Tony. He’s always going to mess a bunch of things up, and his heart is in the right place, but in this you wonder where Cap’s heart is right now. He has some loss early on in the movie that’s a part of what’s driving him to want to reconnect with the really basic relationships that he’s had for a long, long time.
Who can be the next Iron Man after Robert Downey Jr.? Tell t2@abp.in
