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The foundation of the multi-billion-dollar mega-franchise was a gamble taken by Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau in 2008. While Downey Jr. has gone on to become one of the biggest names in Hollywood following his decade-long part in building the MCU into the industry giant it is now, things before Marvel weren’t pretty good for the actor.
Having spent much of the ’90s and early ’00s in controversy following his drug addiction, theOppenheimerStar wasn’t exactly seen as the favorite choice to star in superhero movies. But apart from his addiction, his movies post-recovery weren’t hitting the mark, further makingIron Mana huge risk.
Also read:5 Non-Christmas Movies That Are Actually the Greatest Christmas Movies Ever – Ranked
Box-Office Failures Pushed Robert Downey Jr. And Jon Favreau to Take the Risk
Prior toIron Man, bothRobert Downey Jr‘sKiss Kiss Bang BangandJon Favreau‘sZathurahit the big screens around the same time period, but both of them failed to make it big. But this failure further pushed the duo to take the risk withIron Man, with Favreau, impressed by Downey Jr’s performance inKKBB, one of the actor’s best works to date, decided to hire him as Tony Stark.
Downey recounted the situation while speaking toVanity Fair, stating,
“Jon Favreau, his film Zathura and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang came out on the same weekend and tanked. And I think we were both really hungry to try to reestablish ourselves as a formidable duo, albeit individually. Again, just like Attenborough, his endorsement of me to play that character, and then Kevin Feige having the wherewithal to say, ‘OK bit of a risk, let’s do it, we like risk.’”
And to say that the risk paid off would be a huge understatement, asIron Manmarked the beginning of MCU, which went on to dominate world cinema for the entirety of the last decade.
Also read:Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, Chris Evans’ Captain America Battle Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in Avengers vs X-Men Art Ahead of Secret Wars
DoingKiss Kiss Bang BangWas Freeing for Robert Downey Jr.
Time has been kind to this buddy comedy, as in recent years, it finally got the recognition it deserves. Written and directed by arguably the best filmmaker, when it comes to buddy comedies, Shane Black’s directorial debut is often considered Robert Downey Jr’s best work to date. Black, who wrote classics such asLethal Weapon, doesn’t pull any punches back withKiss Kiss Bang Bang, whose script was deemed near perfect by RDJ. The actor further expressed that playing a character who wasn’t a fast-talking smart guy was freeing.
“Shane Black is a legitimate genius and he’d written what I thought was almost a perfect script. And then Val Kilmer and I had kind of fallen into this good repartee. And at that point, I’d never played a character who was so overtly not intelligent but lovable. And I think it was very freeing for me because I’d hitherto been associated with these kind of fast-talking smart guys, which I’m not necessarily I’ve just had some experience doing it.”
Also read:4 Years after Robert Downey Jr.’s Exit, MCU Hasn’t Had a Single $1B Hit in 2023 Despite 3 Movie Releases
Following his genius behind the lenses, Black was once again given the chance to join forces with RDJ onIron Man 3, which in hindsight, is probably one of the top pre-InfinityWar releases in MCU.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bangis available to rent on Apple TV.
Santanu Roy
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2539
Santanu Roy is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on movies, with over 2,000 articles under his belt. He has been pursuing a degree in Animation and possesses a deep love for the medium of animation. Having spent the better part of the last two years pumping out articles for FW, Santanu excels at covering movie analysis and news surrounding Pixar, DCU, DreamWorks, and Batman’s cinematic legacy.With psychological thrillers and intimate slice-of-life dramas ranking among his favorite genres, Santanu is a big admirer of Luca Guadagnino, Shane Black, Park Chan-wook, and Brad Bird.
