Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man is one of the most iconic characters in all of cinematic history. Appearing in ten movies as the legendary Tony Stark, he has set the foundation for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is perhaps the true reason for the success that the franchise has seen over the years. His fan following is truly phenomenal and there is absolutely no one who could have portrayed the character better than Downey himself.
Naturally, however, before Downey Jr got the role, there were many actors who were in the run to play Tony Stark, including the Mission: Impossible star, Tom Cruise. What many may not know though, is that Sam Rockwell, who played the role of the iconic villain, Justin Hammer, also almost plays the role of the adored genius, billionaire, playboy, and, philanthropist.
Sam Rockwell Almost Stole The Role Of Tony Stark From Robert Downey Jr
Sam Rockwell appeared in the second Iron Man film, titled, Iron Man 2, as Justin Hammer, a foe of Tony Stark desperate to crumble the hero’s empire. During an interview, however, It revealed that Jon Favreau, the director of the first two Iron Man films and known for portraying Happy Hogan, originally wanted Rockwell to play the role of Iron Man, letting him audition and telling him that he should try to be his own version of the character.
“Yes, that’s exactly right. At one point, Jon had called me about the possibility of screen-testing for the part of Tony Stark in Iron Man. And whatever happened, I think I was out of the running.” He said, “Robert [Downey Jr.] just killed it, you know, and I never heard anything after that. So in a way, I think Jon was basically saying, “This is your chance to be Tony Stark. This will be your version of Tony Stark.” We gave him the glasses and kind of sleazed him up a little. But that’s exactly right. It was a chance to do Tony Stark.“
The actor revealed that he was in the running to play the iconic character in the early stages of development in the film, he audition for the role, screen testing once. This, however, did not pan out as after Robert Downey Jr came into the running, Rockwell did hear about this again. This could have to do with the fact that Downey famously did amazing during his screen test for the character.
Sam Rockwell Felt Like His Iron Man 2 Villain Is Like Lex Luthor
Sam Rockwell, then went on to talk about what working on Iron Man 2 was like for him. The actor explained that he joined the project very early on, at a point where a full script wasn’t ready yet. He then went on to add that he, Jon Favreau, and Justin Theroux, the writer on the project, spent a lot of time together working on a script for the film, explaining that his character wore an earpiece at one time because it was something they came up with while having lunch.
“So it was intense, but very dialogue-driven, very actor-friendly. For an action movie, I did a lot of acting in that. Favreau was great and Justin was fantastic, and so between the two of them, we’ve managed to figure it out. I’m really proud of that character. It’s kind of a version of Lex Luthor. And I remember watching Bill Murray in Kingpin for that. Again, stealing from Bill Murray.” He mentioned.
Rockwell then went on to say that he had complete trust in the two and had a lot of fun working on the project. He then added that the movie required quite a lot of acting, and was very dialogue-driven considering the fact that it was an action film, going on to say that for this, he drew inspiration from characters like Lex Luthor and Bill Murray’s Kingpin to play the character of Justin Hammer.
Source: AV Club
