Taglines: Heroes aren’t born. They’re built.
Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment Present Marvel Studios’ soaring action-adventure “Iron Man,” the story of billionaire industrialist and genius inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). As CEO of Stark Industries, the U.S. Government’s top weapons contractor, Tony has achieved celebrity status by protecting American interests around the globe for decades.
Tony’s carefree lifestyle is forever changed when his convoy is attacked following a weapons test he oversees and he is held hostage by a group of insurgents. Injured by life-threatening shrapnel embedded near his already weakened heart, Tony is ordered to build a devastating weapon for Raza (Faran Tahir), the mysterious leader of the insurgents. Ignoring his captors’ requests, Tony uses his intellect and ingenuity to build a suit of armor that keeps him alive and enables him to escape captivity.
Upon his return to America, Tony must come to terms with his past and vows to take Stark Industries in a new direction. Despite the resistance from Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), his right-hand man and top executive, who has taken over the reigns of the company in his absence, Tony spends his days and nights in his workshop developing and refining an advanced suit of armor that gives him superhuman strength and physical protection.
With the help of his longtime assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and his trusted military liaison Rhodey (Terrence Howard), Tony uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications. Donning his powerful new red and gold armor, Tony vows to protect the world and right its injustices as his new alter-ego, Iron Man.
That’s (Marvel) Entertainment
With a library of over 5,000 characters, Marvel Entertainment, Inc. is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies. Marvel’s operations are focused on utilizing its character franchises in licensing, entertainment, publishing and toys. Marvel Entertainment’s areas of emphasis include feature films, DVD/home video, consumer products, video games, action figures and role-playing toys, television and promotions. Rooted in the creative success of over sixty years of comic book publishing, Marvel has successfully transformed its cornerstone comic book characters into blockbuster film franchises.
Marvel Studios’ Hollywood renaissance has been nothing short of spectacular, with record-breaking franchises such as “Spider-Man,” “X-Men” and “The Fantastic Four,” resulting in a string of eight consecutive #1 box office openings. Since 1998, Marvel films have grossed over $4.9 billion worldwide at the box office, firmly establishing itself as one of the top entertainment brands in Hollywood.
David Maisel, Chairman of Marvel Studios, explains why Marvel has been so successful in adapting its comic book characters to the silver screen. “Our films are as much about the man as the superhero. We cast great actors who will appeal to both kids and adults. We set our films up to appeal to everyone.”
“Over the past seven or eight years we have had great luck in combining unique and original talent with our spectacular world-renowned characters,” adds “Iron Man” producer and Marvel Studios president of production Kevin Feige. “We’ve been very fortunate that with the Marvel brand, we have been able to attract talented filmmakers as well as the best technicians, visual effect supervisors, cinematographers and visual effects companies in the world, which has resulted, we believe, in the best kind of genre mega-event summer pictures out there.”
In 2007, Maisel spearheaded Marvel’s announcement to self-finance a slate of ten films which would begin with the 2008 releases of “Iron Man” and “The Hulk,” as well as the development of such titles as “Captain America,” “Thor” and “Ant Man.“
One of the original Marvel Comics, Iron Man has enjoyed a long and prosperous run dating back to the characters’ first appearance in the Marvel comic Tales of Suspense in April 1963. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby, Iron Man’s alter ego Tony Stark was inspired partly by the personality of the late American icon Howard Hughes.
“Howard Hughes was one of the most colorful men of our time,” says executive producer Stan Lee. “He was an inventor, an adventurer, a multi-millionaire, a ladies’ man and, finally, a nutcase.”
Lee continues, “What triggered me to create a character like Iron Man was that I wanted to do something different than the usual super hero. In 1963, Iron Man was all the things that young readers in those days didn’t really care for: he was an industrialist and created war machines. I thought to myself, I’m going to make these kids like him by making Tony Stark a rich, glamorous, handsome, interesting guy. I also gave him a weak heart so that he would have one thing about him that made him less-than-perfect and would also give the readers something to worry about. The response to the character was amazing and, of all the Marvel characters, Iron Man received more fan mail from female readers than any other property. People of all ages connected to the human side of the character.”
A unique and vastly popular character in the Marvel universe, Iron Man is the only self-made superhero whose superhuman strength and abilities come from the powered suits of armor created from the genius mind of Tony Stark.
“In the comic book world, Iron Man stands proudly alongside Spider-Man, The X-Men and The Fantastic Four,” says producer Kevin Feige. “It’s been that way for decades and Iron Man really connected to readers because he’s not a mutant, he wasn’t transformed at a biological level and wasn’t bitten by any sort of genetic insect. He simply is a man who has used his genius to build an armored suit, which is essentially the greatest piece of human ingenuity ever invented.”
It was the superhero’s decidedly flawed character and flashy playboy lifestyle that made the Iron Man comic ripe to be the next Marvel franchise and first film under the company’s new Marvel Studios banner.
“Iron Man is an interesting character for us,” adds producer Avi Arad. “We’ve done superpowers very well with ‘Spider-Man’ and the ‘X-Men,’ but what makes the property so adaptable for a movie franchise is that it’s a story that deals with social issues and the world we live in today. It’s about redemption and a man who has a hero in him, but it takes a set of dire circumstances to bring that out.”
“Marvel has a terrific history of successfully bringing comic book characters to life, and Iron Man is the next logical step,” injects executive producer Peter Billingsley. “It’s Marvel’s first venture into fully financing a film and they have invested a lot of time and care developing this potential franchise. The title has been around for a long time. It has a rich history with 40 years worth of story lines to explore.”
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Production notes provided by Paramount Pictures.
Iron Man (2008)
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub, Bill Smithrovich, Leslie Bibb, Faran Tahir, Sahar Bibiyan, Nazanin Boniadi
Screenplay by: Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Mark Fergus
Production Design by: J. Michael Riva
Cinematography by: Matthew Libatique
Film Editing by: Dan Lebental
Costume Design by: Rebecca Bentjen, Laura Jean Shannon
Set Decoration by: Lauri Gaffin
Art Direction by: David F. Klassen, Richard F. Mays, Suzan Wexler
Music by: Ramin Djawadi
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, suggestive content.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: May 2, 2008
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