When news broke some months back that Jon Favreau was exiting the Iron Man series fanboys everywhere took a collective gasp. Favreau did a great job launching the franchise but on the second movie his hands were tied and he lost creative control over many elements to Marvel, who saw it as a launching pad for other upcoming characters such as the references to Captain America and Thor.
Now a deal has been made to sign Shane Black to direct Iron Man 3, and though he doesn’t have any big blockbuster’s under his belt, his strengths lie in writing which could benefit the new film greatly. During the 80’s and the 90’s Black was one of the highest paid writers in the action genre having written ‘Lethal Weapon 1 & 2’ and ‘The Last Boy Scout’.
He also directed star Robert Downey Jr in 2005’s Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang which helped re-launch Downey Jr’s career after his battle with addiction. The actor also has director approval in his contract so the choice of Shane Black has many benefits. It’s not known whether he’ll be co-writing the ‘Iron Man 3’ script, though it would help the film get into production sooner and the director would obviously be more comfortable knowing the material.
When Favreau exited the series he claimed that Marvel saw the third installment as a possible crossover piece, especially with the other Marvel character’s movies on the release horizon. Though after the sub par results of the second movie and the announcement of Shane Black’s involvement, this should ensure the story stays true to the character of Iron Man and his journey. ‘The Avengers’ is looking to be the big team up movie which Joss Whedon is currently fine tuning before directing later this year.
Shane Black is also working on ‘Doc Savage’ for Sony that’s based on the classic pulp hero, and Warner Bros has also hired him to direct an adaptation of the Japanese manga series ‘Death Note’ written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry, who are also writing ‘Doc Savage’.
It’s hard to know whether Black has the experience to work on a movie the scale of ‘Iron Man 3’, but having both a writing and directing background he certainly has the necessary skills and the studios have a lot of faith in him. Despite Marvel’s meddling, they give the filmmakers a big canvas with which to work so he’s bound to turn in a formidable sequel that’s got some witty dialogue and cool characters, and you can be sure that the effects and visuals will be top notch – so fans can relax for now.
Iron Man 3 is set for release May 3rd, 2013.
via: Deadline
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