It seems like the last few weeks have been dominated by director and casting news and it isn’t stopping today as Shane Black has now been confirmed as the director of Iron Man 3 as was previously speculated. However, it was also thought Black would be writing the screenplay for the film, but Deadline says they cannot confirm that information at this time.
This will serve as a reunion for Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. who starred in Black’s under-appreciated Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang back in 2005. Black is probably best known as the screenwriter of Lethal Weapon and co-writer of Lethal Weapon 2. He then went on to be known as the screenwriter who made the big bucks when he was paid $1.75 million for writing The Last Boy Scout, $1 million for Last Action Hero and then a whopping $4 million for The Long Kiss Goodnight in 1996, which then went on to make only $33 million at the box-office.
It wasn’t until he wrote and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in 2005 that he was ever really heard from again and unfortunately, despite how great that film is, Warner Bros. failed to market it properly and it went on to make only $4.2 million at the box-office. I imagine if it had come out only a few years later it would have made huge dollars after Downey hit it big time with the first Iron Man in 2008.
What’s also unclear is where the story will go as we only have Iron Man and Iron Man 2 director, Jon Favreau’s speculative words to go by when he recently said, “Iron Man 3 is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America and Avengers… This whole world… I have no idea what it is. I don’t think they do either, from conversations I’ve had with those guys.”
Iron Man 3 will be released by Disney (most likely the Touchstone banner) with a release date currently set for May 3, 2013.
