[cctop]

Was that still true at the time Iron Man was made? I was thinking the other day how RDJr's career almost wasn't because of his drug addiction....I thought he had developed a track record of remaining sober by the time Iron Man was made.

In hindsight it's easy to forget how much of a gamble both an Iron Man film and RDJr were.

RDJr had been sober for about 5 years when he was cast as Tony Stark.  But the director, Jon Favreau, had to fight for him.


There was a lot riding on the film.  At the time Marvel was still struggling to emerge from bankruptcy.  If the film failed, they were pretty much done.

Iron Man wasn't a known character to people who hadn't read the comics.  That's why Marvel still held the film rights to him.  (Technically they had sold the rights, but a film didn't get made so the rights had reverted to Marvel.)

From a production perspective, RDJr had never been the sole lead in a big-budget film before.  On a film with a $30 million budget the studio will pretty much leave you alone to make what you want.  On a $140 million film, careers are on the line and everyone is watching your every move.  It's a lot of pressure on the lead actor, and the fear of relapse was real.

[cctop]

Was that still true at the time Iron Man was made? I was thinking the other day how RDJr's career almost wasn't because of his drug addiction....I thought he had developed a track record of remaining sober by the time Iron Man was made.

In hindsight it's easy to forget how much of a gamble both an Iron Man film and RDJr were.

RDJr had been sober for about 5 years when he was cast as Tony Stark.  But the director, Jon Favreau, had to fight for him.


There was a lot riding on the film.  At the time Marvel was still struggling to emerge from bankruptcy.  If the film failed, they were pretty much done.

Iron Man wasn't a known character to people who hadn't read the comics.  That's why Marvel still held the film rights to him.  (Technically they had sold the rights, but a film didn't get made so the rights had reverted to Marvel.)

From a production perspective, RDJr had never been the sole lead in a big-budget film before.  On a film with a $30 million budget the studio will pretty much leave you alone to make what you want.  On a $140 million film, careers are on the line and everyone is watching your every move.  It's a lot of pressure on the lead actor, and the fear of relapse was real.