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WonderCon 08: Iron Man

Jon Favreau is a funny guy.
By  · Published on February 25th, 2008

Jon Favreau is a funny guy. He comes on stage, shows a few incredible scenes from his new Iron Man movie, and then mentions a new ninety-second ad that will be airing during next week’s Lost. “I’m sorry,” he says, “I wasn’t able to bring the ad to show you today.” A pause. “But I did bring a new two and a half minute trailer…” Huge cheers.

The new trailer will be premiering in front of 10,000 B.C. and it is awesome. I’m not a comic book guy, and for every great comic book movie there seems to be at least five crappy ones. Iron Man looks to be one of the former with a perfectly executed combination of action, effects, and laughs. And of course Robert Downey Jr., perfectly cast as Tony Stark. Favreau even said it was the fans online who helped him finally convince the studios that Downey was right for the role.

Three full scenes were screened, all showing the progression of the Iron Man suit. First, Stark attempts a test run with the jet boots. He ‘s not looking to fly, just hover. Three, two, one… and he flies up and slams into a wall. The second scene shows a more successful test of the boots with Stark hovering throughout his lab/garage. He doesn’t have complete control however as the flames from his boots glide across the hoods of three very expensive looking cars. This scene also gives a good example of the humor with Stark interacting with his robots. The final scene shows Stark in the full armor preparing for a test flight outside. The movie looks spectacular, and it’ll probably be the one to beat this summer.

The suit is a combination of CGI and a physical suit created by Stan Winston’s studio. “I’m a Luddite,” Favreau said, “I’m not a fan of CGI.” That said, he admitted that Winston and ILM worked so well together that sometimes even he can’t distinguish in a scene if the suit is real or CGI. Favreau may have found a new niche in comic book films, especially if Iron Man does well. Personally I’ll be surprised if it isn’t one of the top five grossing movies of the year. Favreau’s already eyeing his next comic book adaptation. “If this movie makes a lot of money, I might get to direct the Avengers movie.” That would be very cool indeed.

Iron Man opens May 2nd.

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Rob Hunter has been writing for Film School Rejects since before you were born, which is weird seeing as he's so damn young. He's our Chief Film Critic and Associate Editor and lists 'Broadcast News' as his favorite film of all time. Feel free to say hi if you see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.