In 2008,Iron Mandebuted as the Marvel Cinematic Universes first film and its first blockbuster.
Years later, when he was pulling together Marvel Studios, he reached out to me to come in.
I met with them in their first offices on Beverly Boulevard above the Mercedes dealership.
Zade Rosenthal/Marvel
It was a few people in a few offices.
It wasnt very glamorous at all.
Iron Manwas a relatively low-budget film.
Under those circumstances, it wasnt like you had your standard list of movie stars to choose from.
It was the first time I met with somebody where I understood how the movie would come together.
It wasnt an easy job to get him cast.
There was quite a bit of resistance at first.
But after he had filmed his screen test, the studio got excited.
Robert was a great beacon for other actors.
Gwyneth Paltrow came on board, and Jeff Bridges.
As we filmed it, I made sure that I left a lot of room for improvisation and spontaneity.
The action sequences required a lot of planning.
Robert was the person who never doubted for a second the outcome.
He predicted it months prior.
Marvel anticipated that it would be a hit, but of a much more modest box office number.
Robert actually called out what it would make, which was close to double what they were expecting.
I still very much feel part of that family.
Whats nice is seeing where they go.
Im really happy that this is still a relevant franchise.
I feel like a proud grandpa!
