Gwyneth Paltrow Says Robert Downey Jr. Threw Out Pages of IRON MAN Script to Keep It Feeling Alive and Fresh

The 2008 Marvel movie Iron Man was the one that kicked off everything that the cinematic universe has become. It was a small indie flick with a lot on the line that turned into a blockbuster juggernaut of a film that launched us into this current era of superhero movies. Things may have gotten out of hand since then, but it feels like the tides are turning, at least over at DC, but I digress.

Iron Man was a great movie, and it’s undoubtedly owed in great part to Robert Downey Jr., who was absolutely made for that role. His co-star Gwyneth Paltrow talked about how he approached the film in a recent profile on Downey in Esquire, where she said:

“There would be this process of [director] Jon Favreau and Robert and I going into Jon’s trailer in the morning and Robert being like, ‘I’m not fucking saying these lines’ and throwing them out. And then live improv-ing either in the trailer or on the set. I think in order for something to feel alive for Robert, it has to feel fresh, and he makes it fresh by making it feel like it was just invented. So many of those famous lines were written ten minutes before we said them.”

In the same article, Park Chan-wook, the legendary Korean filmmaker best known for Oldboy, who directed the first three episodes of Downey’s recent series, The Sympathizer, said of the actor’s improvisational skills:

“I started to wonder whether Robert had ten writers at his house who he hired to come up with different lines, which he would memorize and pretend they were improv. How could it be that he comes up with such lines so quickly?”

Downey has such a talent for acting and becoming the characters he takes on. It’s cool to hear about his process from the people he works with. And however unconventional it seems like at the time, he always pulls out the best performances.