Terrence Howard Talks Iron Man and War Machine
ComingSoon.net went in depth with Terrence Howard playing Jim Rhodes in "Iron Man", and may have made him divulge that War Machine makes an appearance in the film.
Did you want to do "Iron Man" out of love for the comic books or did you see that as the next step to that next level you mentioned, doing a summer blockbuster type movie?
Howard: Strategically, it was a very smart move to become a part of a franchise, but emotionally, artistically, to work with three people, one of which had already won an Oscar, and literally all four of the main cast have been nominated. To get up there and compare your chops to Robert Downey Jr., one of the most improvisational actors I know. To learn from him. My very first day of rehearsals, I just saw him lay down on the couch while Gwyneth is sitting there and Jon Favreau, and I'm right where you are and he's just sitting there looking into the wind for his answer, his response. I wanted to learn that level of comfort, and I wanted to learn Gwyneth's…there's almost a statuesque gracefulness to her and the assuredness about her, but still her eyes wandering, her vulnerability, to a solid statue. And Jeff Bridges, who you would think comes in with everything figured out, and he's figuring it out as he goes. I wanted to work with these people and learn from them, and I left that movie and I took
that same energy that I learned from Robert Downey into the studio to do my album.
I've interviewed him a few times and it's refreshing to see someone so laid-back and comfortable and not worrying what anyone might say or think of him. It's so great he got over his problems because it would have been a huge loss if he hadn't been able to.
Howard: And the loss would have been to us.
I also interviewed Mark Fergus, one of the screenwriters, and asked him what it was like having such great actors doing rehearsals for what's basically a comic book movie. Is it interesting to do a movie like this that is a potential blockbuster but has such strong actors involved?
Howard: The beautiful thing is these writers were put to the test, because what they wrote was not what we kept. They had to rewrite it again in front of us. "Write it again. No, that's not it." Then we would write and they would take what we did and create even more from it. They were literally put to test by fire all in the rehearsal process and while we were shooting. Took four or five hours to the start every day, because Robert is such a perfectionist and his instincts are so finely honed that he can detect insightfully that "this line right here is going to trip us up down the line." It was beautiful the fact that he had that courage.
I got to see the footage at Comic-Con a few times and I have to ask because it got me curious… did we actually see a glimpse of War Machine there for a second? Are they going to already start playing up that aspect of your character?
Howard: Ummmm… (chuckles and thinks about how to respond) War Machine is a very intricate aspect of the future franchise of this thing, but this movie is centered more around the creation of Tony Stark turning into Iron Man.
That seems logical, but the fact they're bringing James Rhodes into the story so much earlier than they ever did in the comics, I was curious whether his future incarnation might be hinted at or it would all be saved for the sequels?
Howard: Yeah, we start getting into it. We start getting into it.