The stars were out at the San Diego Comic-Con to promote their movies and we were there to talk to the cast of Iron Man 2. In the sequel to Iron Man, Sam Rockwell plays Justin Hammer, Tony Stark's competitor and, ultimately, his nemesis. However, according to Rockwell, the role of Hammer was not so clearly defined when he initially took the role. Rockwell said:
We sort of didn't know where (Justin) was going and we discovered that as we shot the film, which is also kind of exciting. It also takes the pressure off you, because you're like — you know, I got a speech a half-hour before we shot it. I got a speech at lunch time, so I had to learn that and figure that out and use little tricks, you know, but we got it. It's on film, it's on celluloid.
Only minutes before the interview, Rockwell had been on stage in front of more than 6,000 fans for the Iron Man 2 panel. He was somewhat subdued during the panel and did not say very much. When asked if the crowds were intimidating, Rockwell said:
It's a little intimidating, but seeing the trailer is really wild because we've been working on the film — we just wrapped about a week ago, so it felt like a smaller endeavor to us, and then to see that kind of filmmaking up there is pretty awesome, pretty impressive. So, I'm kind of like, "Wow, this is a big deal."
Rockwell couldn't divulge too much about the plot, but he admitted that his character and Mickey Rourke's character, Whiplash, team up against Iron Man. He even called Hammer a "patron of evil." When asked about the process of developing the character of Justin Hammer, Rockwell said that it was not difficult, even though he was only given bits and pieces of the script to work with. He said:
It's kind of like the way we worked on Charlie's Angels, with the exception that we had 17 writers for that and we only had one writer, which was Justin Theroux — thank God, you know — but it's a similar process and yet, because (director Jon Favreau) is an actor who comes from improv it's really actor-friendly, this process. So, it's very character-driven. We didn't get a full script until like a week before shooting. I would get little pieces here and there. But, I would have conversations about it and I would get the scenes and go to my acting coach — a guy named Terry Knickerbocker — and we would work on the material. Even though the material might change ... the homework I had done on it still pays off because it's still the same imaginary circumstances even though (something has) changed. So, it is possible to do preparation for a movie like this, but it's an unconventional way to work.
Iron Man 2 also stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Don Cheadle as Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. Jon Favreau returns as director.