During a recent interview with Empire Magazine, which kicks of a week of AGE OF ULTRON exclusives, Robert Downey Jr. talks about everything from AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, re-upping his deal, and his relationship with Vision.
A good amount of this interview focues on AGE OF ULTRON, Tony, and working with James Spader, someone that Downey has previously worked with.
When asked about working with James Spader again, Downey had this to say. "He’s coming in and doing this jazzy Shakespearean thing, and you believe
that somebody that has that much personality and that much wit and that
much emotive capability is a threat. That’s the important thing."
Everything about the above quote makes me even more excited to see Spader tackle this role. He is a truly fantastic actor, and I've been thrilled since the moment he was announced as getting the part, but hearing how he's bringing the villain to life? I can't wait to see it.
Moving on to his decision to re-up his contract, Downey didn't really have too much more to say than he did earlier on the subject matter, still, it's worth a read. Not only does he acknowledge that he won't be doing these too much longer, and but he also talks about how they pitched it to him, and how they liked what they planned to do.
Here's the full quote:
I’m
crazy about Evans. I really am. I don’t know why or how to explain this
particular kinship we have. By the way, he hasn’t called me in six
months. Honestly, in order for this whole thing to have worked, I did my
part, Hemsworth knocked it out of the stadium and then it fell on Cap.
That was the riskiest. It was the one that had the highest degree of
difficulty in making it translate to a modern audience. It was the
Russos and Chris who, I think, really hit the line drive and won the
series. I remember glancing through it going, “Wow, that’s a different
way to go”. They said, “If we have you, we can do this or Cap 3 has to
be something else”. It’s nice to feel needed.
At this point it
ceases about being about announcements of contracts and deal points and
Forbes and all that. And to see Chadwick being announced for Black
Panther, I go, ‘Wow, man, Marvel is making all the right moves and
they’re not doing it because it’s PC, they’re doing it because it’s
exciting’. So why would I be the one to go, ‘I’m not going on the road. I
don’t get along with the keyboardist’. Who cares? Who cares? And
look, I also recognise that I’ll be turning 50 by the time I promote
this movie. The clock is ticking down on the amount of memories and
participation that I would allow myself and not embarrass the medium
with. And when they pitched it to me and when I had a couple of ideas
and when they said we like those ideas, let’s do those. Then there’s all
this competition too. I don’t do this because I look at it as a
competition, but I look at the marketplace and go, ‘Maybe if these two
franchises teamed up and I can take even a lesser position in support,
with people I like and directors I respect, maybe we can keep things
bumping along here a little longer than they might have’.
On the topic of how we will see Tony's character change in CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR, Downey explains that the roots for that storyline will be planted in ULTRON, and that it keeps up with a real-world continuum.
‘What would you do?’ There’s always the bigger overarching question,
that Joss brings up all the time - it’s kind of weird that these guys
would have all these throw downs all over planet Earth and it looked
like a little collateral damage happened over there, and yet when the
movie’s over, it’s like nobody minds. You have to figure, ‘Were you to
ask the question, what would the American government do if this were
real? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see Tony doing something you
wouldn’t imagine?’
You can read the entire interview by hading to the source below.
It's a fascinating read and should get you even more excited for where the MCU is headed next!
Source: Empire Magazine!
