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 Rachel McAdams was Jon Favreau's first choice to play Pepper Potts, but she turned the role down.
Robert Downey Jr. set up his own office next to Jon Favreau's office, to discuss his role with Favreau. He also became highly involved in pre-production.
Jon Favreau was originally going to direct Captain America (2009) in the manner of a superhero comedy adventure, but he instead chose to direct this film and give it a more serious tone. Ironically, Nick Cassavetes, who was chosen to direct that film, had been filled in to direct this film in December 2004.
Jon Favreau describes the film as "a kind of independent film-espionage thriller crossbreed; a Robert Altman-directed Superman (1978), with shades of Tom Clancy novels, James Bond films, RoboCop (1987), and Batman Begins (2005)."
In the comics, Tony Stark participated (and became Iron Man) in the Vietnam War; later this was retconned to the Gulf War. In this film, the character's origin was retconned to Afghanistan, as Jon Favreau did not wish to make the film a period piece but instead give it a realistic contemporary look.
During shooting, Jon Favreau preferred improvisation in dialogue scenes, calling back to his Robert Altman influence.
Tony Stark drives an Audi R8 in the film, as part of a promotion deal Marvel Studio's made with the Audi Automobile Company. Two other vehicles, the Audi A6 sedan and the Audi Q7 SUV, also make an appearance in the film.
An Aaton 35mm camera was accidentally run over by a tank during a shoot.
In October 1999, Quentin Tarantino was approached to write and direct the film. Later, Joss Whedon, a big fan of the comic book, was in negotiations to direct the film in June 2001. In December 2004, Nick Cassavetes was hired as a director, with the film to release in 2006, but everything fell through. Finally, Jon Favreau was hired as director.
Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise were interested in playing Iron Man. Cruise in particular was going to act in and produce the film.
Robert Downey Jr. is a big fan of the "Iron Man" comic book, and swears that he would make 15 sequels about the character if need be.
Stan Lee, the creator of Iron Man, had originally based Tony Stark on Howard Hughes, whom he felt was "one of the most colourful men of our time: an inventor, an adventurer, a multimillionaire, a ladies man and finally a nutcase." Robert Downey Jr. further described his portrayal of Stark as "a challenge of making a wealthy, establishmentarian, weapons-manufacturing, hard-drinking, womanizing prick into a character who is likable and a hero."
To prepare for his role as Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. spent five days a week weight training and practiced martial arts to get into shape.
The rapper Ghostface Killah, who has been a long-time fan of Iron Man (he took the names of Iron Man and Tony Starks; he also titled his 1996 album "Ironman" and uses lyrics and images related to Iron Man comics/animated series), makes an appearance in this film as a Dubai tycoon.
All three sets of Iron Man's armour was designed by Phil Saunders and Adi Granov (a comic book artist from the "Iron Man" comic). They were then constructed by Stan Winston Studios.
Robert Downey Jr. will be involved with motion-capture work eight months after filming is completed in order to realistically portray Iron Man's movements.
Terrence Howard was cast as James Rhodes, as Jon Favreau felt he could also portray War Machine admirably. To prepare for his role, Howard visited the Nellis Air Force Base on March 16 2007, where he ate with the Base's airmen and observed the routines of HH-60 Pave Hawk rescue helicopters and F-22 Raptor jets.
To prepare for her role as Pepper Potts, Gwyneth Paltrow read many of the "Iron Man" comic books, lent to her by her husband Chris Martin.
To prepare for his role as Obadiah Stane, Jeff Bridges read some of the "Iron Man" comic books that featured Stane, and grew a goatee and shaved his head (which he said was something he always wanted to do).
Comic book writer Stan Lee, as always, has a cameo in the live-action film of his creation Iron Man. He plays the man with three blondes whom Tony Stark mistakes for Hugh M. Hefner. He later mentioned that it was his most fun cameo.
In the Ultimate Marvel Comics series, the character of Nick Fury is portrayed as African-American, with his look and personality tailored after actor Samuel L. Jackson, all carried out with the actor's explicit permission. Jackson, himself a comic book fan, plays Fury in this film.
Jon Favreau shot the film in California, as he felt that too many superhero films had been set on the East Coast, particularly in New York City.
An early draft of the script revealed Tony Stark to be the creator of Dr. Otto Octavius's tentacles from Spider-Man 2 (2004).
400 extras were meant to be filmed standing at Tony Stark's press conference, but Robert Downey Jr. suggested they ought to sit down, as that would be more realistic and comfortable.
According to Jon Favreau, it was difficult to find a proper opponent for Iron Man to face, since he wanted the film not to go over into fantasy but to remain grounded in reality. It was decided to have a foe in the film who would serve as a parallel of Stark (i.e. an armoured opponent). Well-known enemies like the Titanium Man and the Crimson Dynamo were considered, but finally the lesser-known Iron Monger, Obadiah Stane, was chosen as Iron Man's adversary (Stane, as well as possessing his own armour, is also a business contemporary of Stark).
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