With Captain America: Civil War just a matter of weeks away, the latest instalment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to come roaring into cinemas.
While the franchise is now a huge hit, it began as a gamble in 2008 with Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, seeing Robert Downey Jr take his most iconic screen role – a choice that proved imperative in the series' subsequent success.
Appearing on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, Favreau spoke about having to convince the studio that Downey Jr was the right choice.
“He is a wonderful actor, nobody doubted his talent, but he hadn’t carried a big Hollywood film so it was a bit of a risk. It took some convincing,” he explained.
“He had already done the second half of his career where he was showing that he was serious about the work, and he had done a few really good films, like Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, so he auditioned and he did such a fantastic job that Marvel decided that he was worth taking a shot with, and now they have built the Marvel universe around his wonderful performances.”
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Downey Jr reprises his role as Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) in Civil War, while Favreau is currently enjoying positive reviews for his live-action take on Disney classic The Jungle Book.
Channel 4, 10pm