Back in 2008, over a decade ago, Robert Downey Jr suited up as the ‘Iron Man’, aka Tony Stark, for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and changed how superhero films were perceived. The film not just won hearts, but an extensive collection at the Box Office too. In this case, we can imagine the love Downey rides on and how religiously he is worshipped as Tony Stark. But could you think of any actor but Robert playing the superhero? Well, the viral debate says so.
Matt Damon’s fiery interview about the superhero culture and streaming services ruining Hollywood has got enough traction, and it did inspire a popular news portal to have an opinion piece on it. The article went on to talk about the film being bigger than the star and in the flow said ‘Iron Man’ could have been played by anyone else, and the character is important not the actor. Just like the Internet got furious, ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ fame James Gunn is furious too.
The Sunday Times opinion piece on the row read, “When we sit down with the actor, there is a sense that everything Matt Damon loves about his industry is falling away. One immediate difference between when Damon started out and now is that the leading men no longer sell the film’s most people watch.”
And it goes on to mention Robert Downey Jr’s ‘Iron Man’ and reads, “The big titles of the past decade are brands and franchises established in numerous prequels and sequels. Robert Downey Jr is a leading man, but his ‘Iron Man’ could be played by almost anyone with wit; the character is more important to audiences than the actor.”
The tweet reached director James Gunn who says he has seen the screen tests and all of this is bullsh*t. In his reaction tweet, Gunn wrote, “I’ve seen the screen tests. This is bullsh*t.” —Flip Board