by Nancy Jundi as originally published by CinemaEditor Magazine
Imagine for a moment that the billionaire CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, decided to fight crime up and down the coast of California at night. How would that work? Would he be a Batman type, running around with iPod like gadgets attached to his utility belt or install a Mac Air in his Jobs Mobile? How would he keep his identity a secret? What kind of mask would he wear? Would Bill Gates be his arch nemesis or would they fight crime together? What would the costume look like? Jobs is known for innovative design, unprecedented technology, and aesthetic appeal – that suit would be amazing. Matter of fact, it would be more than just a suit; it would be what enables him to fight crime. Aluminum alloy would never hold up, though. It would have to be more durable, indestructible, if you will. If that weren’t an interesting enough concept to ponder, just imagine how the adventures would play out if the man behind the mask had a serious passion for bourbon.
On May 2nd you won’t have to imagine anymore. We’ll have our very own take on that grand idea thanks Dan Lebental, Jon Favreau, and Robert Downey Jr.! Another of Stan Lee’s Marvel superheroes is coming to the big screen. Robert Downey Jr. takes on the role of Iron Man, a.k.a. Tony Stark, the genius, billionaire playboy with a an affinity for the bottle. Directed by Jon Favreau and cut together by his long time editor, Dan Lebental, Iron Man will see the emergence of a comic book hero who relishes in the lighter side of his works serious nature. The movie incorporates modern day Afghanistan into the story of Stark’s adventures. While in the country to introduce his new missile design to the Air Force, the unit he is traveling with is attacked and Stark is taken hostage. Ordered by his captors to assemble a missile for them, he instead makes a bulletproof suit of armor, complete with flamethrowers, and uses it to free himself. Back in the United States, Tony uncovers a global terrorism plot which prompts him to redesign the suit and commit himself to fighting crime.
The plot seems simple enough, very typical of a good versus evil action hero movie, but what separates this character out from the Spider Mans and Batmans of the world is that Iron Man has one heck of a sense of humor. Part bourbon and part God given charm, Tony Stark has always been a character to watch, mostly because you never know what’s going to come out of his mouth. Teaming Jon Favreau’s penchant for the Altman style of directing which utilizes improvisation and Robert Downey Jr.’s off the cuff quick wit, you can rest assured you’ll be getting as much comedy as you will action with this picture. Editor Dan Lebental remarked “Robert Downey Jr. is so wonderful at improvisation that it makes it joy to sift through takes and see what he comes up with. Combined with Matthew Libatique’s ability to shoot multiple cameras on the actors in the scene, I was never unable to use a good performance.”
Lebental got his start in editing during the mid eighties while working in music videos. “I started by producing, directing and editing low budget videos until a director asked if I would edit for him. By a quirk of fate, I ended up becoming the go to guy in urban music videos. The Hughes Brothers took me from videos to feature films on their film Dead Presidents and I have been cutting movies ever since.” Iron Man marks Lebental’s fourth teaming with Jon Favreau as a director. They’d previously worked together on 2003’s Elf, 2005’s Zathura: A Space Adventure, and most recently, the 2007 ABC pilot for In Case of Emergency. “I first met Jon while cutting Very Bad Things for Peter Berg. Jon was the lead actor in that film and I guess he took a liking to my sensibilities.”
Considering all of the interest in 3D these days and just how amazing the flying, missile shooting Iron Man would be in that scenario, I had to wonder if Marvel toyed with the idea of utilizing the technology. “I know that Marvel considered 3D, but opted against it on this one” said Lebental. “After all, this is their first feature film as an independent studio.” Marvel, who paired with Columbia pictures on the Spider Man franchise and Twentieth Century Fox for the X-Men trilogy is putting out Iron Man as their debut into the studio ring, which some would say is long overdue. Its sophomore film, The Incredible Hulk, will also be out this year. This was somewhat new territory for both Favreau and Lebental as well. “I always preferred television, literature and movies as a child, so having no background in the comic book world, I didn’t know much about this kind of film” said Lebental, “but Jon had such a passion for the material that it became intoxicating for me to take on such a challenge.”
Enormous is an understatement. With films this size, most editors I’ve known are brought in early on in the pre production phases to get the ball rolling. Lebental’s experience was no different. “I was brought in during pre-production to work on the pre-visualization of the action sequences. I worked with Kent Seki and his team from Pixel Liberation Front who translated the storyboards to animated mock-ups of the sequences.” It’s forward thinking like that which generally provides a director with the ability to lose shots where necessary before ever rolling a foot of film. In other circumstances it can show exactly where a hole might need to be filled and you’re able to avoid a reshoot. With so much to be accomplished in and out of the editing room, I was curious how Favreau and Lebental connected during production and post. “Jon would have loved to spend more time in the refuge of the cutting room during production” Lebental said, ‘but he was needed elsewhere both night and day. We only had a few sessions together during production but it did help me to develop my assembly version of the movie. A week or so after the shoot ended I showed him the cut and we got right to work on it. At that time the great Michael Tronick, A.C.E., came in and helped with cut and the visual effects turnovers for a few months. It has taken months to get back the visual effects and incorporate them into the cut.”
With most super heroes, there generally lies a challenge in giving the character that human face when so often covered by a mask. In Iron Man it was the visual effects that solved that problem for Tony Stark rather than stripping away an integral part of his costume. “It was always of paramount importance to feel that there is a man behind the mask” said Lebental. “We achieved this by letting the audience inside the mask to see Tony interact with his high-tech heads up display. We also took great care to give Iron Man, rather than Tony, his own voice. This way he could be this dual persona of man and hero.” Another breath of familiarity will hit home for Los Angelinos. While most comic book translations to the screen come with backdrops of New York City, Iron Man is basing itself out of Los Angeles. Being an avid fan of the West Coast Avengers comic book series, which Iron Man was often a regular of, I was ecstatic to see us left coasters finally getting a bit of play in the Marvel world. “It will be fun for the L.A. audience to recognize the various landmarks around town” said Lebental.
Reading some of the message boards for Iron Man, the run time had been quite the concern for fans. Coming in right around the two hour mark, fans can now rest easy that they’ll get a full visual sensation. Lebental even peeked in on the fan rumblings. “I have paid attention and I am amazed at how much the fans really care about every minute detail. The fans should be pleased because Jon and Marvel demanded that we tell a story that was faithful to the comic books. The early feedback of the fans to the trailers and show reels has been taken very seriously.”
In an action filled summer with the likes of Batman and Indiana Jones, Iron Man is one of many assured blockbusters not to be missed. After all, none of these heroes are too far out of a concept. If anything, I’m a little more interested in what Steve Jobs does with all of his money. If I had an endless amount of cash matched with an off the charts intelligence, I can’t say that I wouldn’t start looking into a suit that let me fly about town. If it enabled me to fight crime AND avoid traffic, I’d go out and fight some criminals, too. I’m beginning to think I may have revealed him and Bill Gates with this article…
