Don Cheadle is War Machine

Even though Terrence Howard said, “Next time…” at the end of Iron Man, he never got his chance to become War Machine. The role of Rhodey was recast and Don Cheadle gets to fulfill that promise in Iron Man 2. We spoke to Cheadle at Comic Con after his footage screened in the Hall H panel, to find out what’s new with Rhodey, besides the new actor.

Crave Online: Was this a hard role to accept considering the baggage?

Don Cheadle: They knew I was coming into a situation that was a little different, and they were very open and allowed me to figure out who he was, on my own. Robert and Jon were very collaborative, so it was just a very creative process that made it feel like I wasn’t just jammed into trying to fulfill something that someone else has done.

Crave Online: How intimidating was it for you to step into the shoes of Terrence Howard, and do so in a movie of this magnitude?

Don Cheadle: Well, I did a big CGI movie, but it didn’t perform like this one did, and I wasn’t replacing anyone. But, I was encouraged to find my character by myself and figure out who he was, and not have to try to play any of the beats or character dynamics that Terrence had. I was my own man.

Crave Online: Everyone loved the “next time” line in the first film. How does it feel to fulfill that promise in this film?

Don Cheadle: This is the first time I’d seen that footage, so I didn’t know what to expect. In a movie like this, you do your performance and then you hand it off, and teams of people then flesh it out and create what we saw, so you have to trust a lot.

Crave Online: How’s the suit?

Don Cheadle: Wearing the suit, it’s heavy, which is true. You feel kind of clunky in it, but everyone is like, “No, it’s really good. You’re doing your thing.” But, you don’t know. You just have to see what happens, at the end of it.

Crave Online: How much of this film is Rhodey’s? Is it possible to break this character out into his own franchise?

Don Cheadle: We haven’t discussed that. I have no idea. Maybe, potentially. But, he’s an integral part of the story, for sure. His relationship with Tony Stark, and what happens with them, is a big part of the story.

Crave Online: Were you a fan of the superhero genre? Was playing a superhero something you’d wanted to do?

Don Cheadle: I’m sure I fantasized about it, as a kid, and thought it would be a lot of fun. And then, you’re 40 and you’re like, “Eh.” But, I saw the first Iron Man and just really enjoyed it and thought they did a great job. They were able to really combine the CGI and the pyrotechnics, and all of that stuff, with some real character stuff going on, so I thought it was a very interesting mix. When I got the call, I had to ponder it for awhile, but ultimately I thought, “Yeah, this is a good thing to do.”

Crave Online: What kind of ideas did you have about the character?

Don Cheadle: Well, mostly it was based off the script and what the dynamic was, which was already kind of established. But, I just really had more questions than answers about the relationship. When I looked back over the comic books, with all of the different iterations of Iron Man and Rhodey that there have been, the one thing that seemed like it was always there was this friendship. There was a real friendship and underlying kinship, and I was always asking, “Where did it come from? What’s it based on? How tenuous is it, now that Tony is a free agent and Rhodey is a military man? How does that work?” That’s what drove my questions about our relationship through the whole movie.

Crave Online: What surprised you the most about being a part of this movie? What did you not expect?

Don Cheadle: I didn’t expect for the Rhodey CGI character to work more days than me. I didn’t think my stuntman would work as many days as I did. Really, it’s a combination of your work, and you’re in this motion capture shoot, and then the stuntmen do some stuff and you get to do some stuff, and then they don’t need any of you and they draw it themselves. It’s really a very interesting process.

Crave Online: How did you find your groove with Robert Downey, Jr.? Were you really looking forward to going toe-to-toe with him in scenes?

Don Cheadle: Yeah. We had a lot of that. Basically, we’re trying to find why these guys are friends, and on what level they connect and miss each other. So, it was constantly tweaking stuff and improv-ing a lot and grinding over scenes to figure out how that worked, under the watchful eyes of Jon and Kevin Feige.

Crave Online: What kind of improv did you do?

Don Cheadle: Just whatever. We would just work out scenes. We’d just say, “Was this like that time when we were in Thailand and had that one situation at the restaurant? Oh, no, that was Malaysia. Oh, that’s right. We were in Malaysia.” We would just try to figure out who we were, and then, once we figured that out, we’d say, “How does that inform this situation?” It’s not different than what you do on other films, but a little different because there’s so much source material already and you have to go, “How much of this do we have to be beholden to and how much of this can we just find for ourselves?”

Crave Online: What does Jon do, as a director, to make it a human story?

Don Cheadle: I think the fact that he is an actor, himself, and he understands that process and what you need, was really helpful. He was always trying to make sure that we were attending to that, as well as paying off everything we had to pay off with the effects and the suit and the mythology of the story. You’ve gotta feel like this is really real. What the first movie did very well was give you both of those dynamics, and that juxtaposition made it enjoyable for kids and mature people as well.

Crave Online: What can you say about War Machine?

Don Cheadle: Well, in the comics, Rhodes was a friend to Tony Stark who took over as Iron Man when the billionaire industrialist's alcoholism, purported death, or other dangers made him unable to put on the suit. Responding to a threat from Justin Hammer, Stark designed his all-out battle masterpiece, the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit, Model XVI, Mark I which he nicknamed War Machine, that Rhodes would eventually wear. Over the years, Stark and Rhodes have had many falling-outs and reconciliations, usually surrounding one's perceived misuse of the technology and often resulting in Rock' Em, Sock 'Em Robot-esque battles between the two stubborn, super-suited men.

Crave Online: Are you excited about becoming an action figure?

Don Cheadle: You know, I hope they just do a good one because, sometimes you see people’s action figures and you’re like “I bet he’s not happy with that.” I hope they get a really good artist to do it.

Crave Online: Did you feel the weight of expectation while you were making the movie?

Don Cheadle: You hear the buzz all the time because, Kevin Feige, Marvel is there all the time, and Dave Maisel, so you know that that’s happening but I kind of dropped into this world, so I wasn’t really aware.  I didn’t feel that as a pressure. I felt more pressure to make sure that the role was properly done and I just figured that the rest would take care of itself or it wouldn’t. You know, as an actor, I’m used to just doing something and going okay, I hope that it works. You just don’t know.

Crave Online: Were you a comic book reader yourself?

Don Cheadle: Not Iron Man. I read Swamp Thing, I read the X-Men and Watchmen, I was into, but not until college. When people first said Iron Man, I thought it was a robot. I didn’t know there was a person in the suit until I saw the first movie.

Crave Online: Did you ever talk with Terrence Howard?

Don Cheadle: Talked with Terrence, yeah, I talked with Terrence. He’s a friend, I produced Crash and put him in the movie. Even before that, I knew him. So there was no hard feelings. It wasn’t like I took the role from him. That’s something that happened before I even came onboard. It’s going to be different since in the second movie. Tony and Rhodes aren't always going to see eye-to-eye. Our relationship has gotten deeper. In the first film, Tony wasn't saying he was Iron Man. Now that he's embraced it, there's all these attendant problems and pressure and questions that all the characters surrounding him have to deal with.

Crave Online: What was the biggest challenge?

Don Cheadle: The biggest challenge was just really trying to always find the reality inside of all of the artificial stuff.

Crave Online: What stunts were you allowed t o do?

Don Cheadle: Some of the fighting and as much as we could. But there are certain things that were just really integrated into the entire computer graphics and all that stuff that you just didn’t need to be around for 18 hours while they completely detailed every little thing, so they made some other poor sap had to go through that.

Crave Online: What are you doing next? Do you want to do a smaller film next?

Don Cheadle: I’ve gotta get this Miles Davis project off, so that’s going to take my time.

Crave Online: How’s that going?

Don Cheadle: It’s going good. We have a script that we’re working on. We’ve just gotta beat the bushes.

Crave Online: Who’s writing the script?

Don Cheadle: Stephen J. Revele.

Crave Online: Do you want to direct it?

Don Cheadle: If it doesn’t kill me, yes.

Crave Online: What timeline of his life are you covering?

Don Cheadle: It’s not a cradle to grave story at all, but it touches a lot of parts of his life. It’s not a biopic.

Crave Online: Which is your favorite of Miles’ groups?

Don Cheadle: I don’t have a favorite. There’s so many.

Crave Online: What inspired your passion for his music and this project?

Don Cheadle: My heroin addiction. [Laughs] No. That’s probably not the best answer.