Message #251587

[Boba Fett]

Explained Black, “Yeah, [Mandarin] has an intelligence background. His nationality is not even clear because he’s shrouded in secrecy, but at some point this field officer went nuts and became a student of warfare and ancient Chinese symbology and drew from South American insurgency tactics and has created around himself this little world of warfare. The only unifying principal of which seems to be a hatred of the United States. So he represents every terrorist, in a way. But specifically, he’s crafted himself in the manner of the Mandarin, of a warlord. I think that’s great, because you get to do the comic book, but you don’t have to deal with the specifics of Fu Manchu stereotyping. We’re not saying he’s Chinese, we’re saying that he in fact draws a cloak around him of Chinese symbols and dragons because it represents his obsession with Sun Tzu and various ancient arts of warfare that he has studied. So that’s what we like about it.”

When it came to Pepper, Downey said he agreed with Favreau making the first film, who felt that relationship was the heart of the story. Said Downey, “I think, ‘Okay, what do we want Gwyneth to be able to do this time? And how do we have it to where she’s not just going, ‘Tony!’ and in Act III I’m going, ‘Where’s Pepper!?'"

"I think what’s funny is there’s never been a superhero in one of these genre films where the guy is in a committed relationship," Downey continued. "It’s like, 'Oh, no. Don’t do that!' So we thought the strength in that is I think it sends a better message than, 'Don’t you want to be like this guy who dates Kim Basinger one year and Nicole Kidman the next?' Yes you do, but there’s no stability there. I think the whole thing is that it’s such a different time generationally. You definitely don’t want to smoke in movies anymore, no matter how cool it looks. But also, the way you interact with characters and the level of violence you have in a PG-13 movie, now you wonder like, 'My God, if we do that, is someone really gonna do that and we’re gonna have to reshoot it?' To me, it’s a genre that I don’t get bored of because it immediately takes the stink off of, 'We’re going to do an important movie, a serious movie.' But I think what’s important is that there has to be conflict in the relationship, and there has to be resolution that isn’t the same."