Sam Rockwell Won His Iron Man 2 Role By Pretending To Be A Guinea Pig
Once upon a time, Roger Ebert held that "no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." The Stanton-Walsh rule could be violated, as Ebert noted in his scathing review of the unfathomably awful "Wild Wild West," but you only did yourself a favor if you cast one of these gentlemen. The script could be dire and the direction poor, but an appearance from Stanton and/or Walsh was/is – we lost Stanton in 2017, but Walsh is still going strong at 88 years old — only ever a joyous occasion.
The Stanton-Walsh rule applies to other character actors, and I can't think of many performers who've given me more pleasure over the last few decades than Sam Rockwell. He first popped for me in Tom DiCillo's hugely underrated indie comedy "Box of Moonlight" as a ball of non-conformist energy who teaches John Turturro's tightly wound engineer how to live off the grid. Rockwell had crazy star potential in the late 1990s, but quickly established himself as a live-wire supporting actor in films and parts as different as "The Green Mile," "Galaxy Quest" and "Charlie's Angels." When it comes to leading roles, he's a particular fit; strangely, aside from "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," I think he works best as subdued, father-type characters — and this is not a knock. He's a phenomenal actor. I just happen to relish his ability to play freaks because only Rockwell can do what he does, and we must not squander his time on this planet.
So it makes some kind of perverse sense that he found his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe by playing a literal guinea pig.
Sam Rockwell gets an MCU mulligan
In 2009, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who was making loads of money for The Walt Disney Company via his "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "National Treasure" franchises, decided the world was ready for a four-quadrant, live-action/animation hybrid adventure about a guinea pig strike force that saves the planet from an evil billionaire played by Bill Nighy. Rockwell was basically the star as the voice of Darwin, the leader of our furry heroes. The film earned $293 million on a reported $150 million budget, which was just enough for Disney to claim success without feeling obligated to make a sequel.
Joining Rockwell as the voice of a heavily armed guinea pig was Jon Favreau, who'd just launched the MCU's Avengers Initiative as the director of 2008's "Iron Man." Rockwell had been in the running for the role of cocky industrialist Tony Stark, which vaulted Robert Downey Jr. to long-deserved superstardom, and it's not hard to see why; he's got Downey's gift for improvisation and, not for nothing, is a pretty good looking dude.
So Favreau, who was developing "Iron Man 2" at the time, pitched Rockwell on playing the Stark-like villain of the highly anticipated sequel. There was just one problem: Favreau didn't have a script.
'It was like we were gunslingers'
According to Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards' "MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios," Rockwell was flattered by the offer to play unprincipled arms manufacturer Justin Hammer, but the lack of a finished screenplay was concerning. "I wasn't sure where the character was going," he said. Fortunately, that screenplay was being written by Justin Theroux, an actor with whom Rockwell had worked at a Williamstown, Pennsylvania theater festival. Rockwell placed his faith in Theroux, and signed on, at which point he drew on a trio of very different bad guy portrayals to help shape his take on Hammer.
"I watched Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor," said Rockwell. "George C. Scott in 'The Hustler,' I watched Bill Murray in 'Kingpin.' I was trying to get a lot of different things to incorporate." Rockwell also knew he had to be quick on his feet to keep up with the nimble-minded Downey. He leaped at the challenge.
"Favreau just really wanted someone who could keep up with the verbal repartee that Downey has. I'm just barely able to do that. Downey is very quick. We went at it a little bit in the Senate room. [The scene where Tony Stark testifies before the United States Senate was full of back-and-forth ad-libbing.] It was like we were gunslingers. We were trying to see who's faster."
"Iron Man 2" is generally regarded as one of the MCU's weakest films, but Rockwell is far from the problem. Favreau does give him too much leash, but I'd rather watch an actor as boundlessly talented as Rockwell vamp than sift through go-nowhere exposition. Rockwell makes every movie better, and he's got the Academy hardware to prove it.