I’ve taken Iron Man 2 more seriously due to expectations of fans, says Robert Downey Jr

IT’S his first sequel and Robert Downey Jr. felt more pressure making Iron Man 2 than at any point in his career.

Remember, this is the man who was better known for his drug offences and courtroom trials from 1996 to 2001.

It was only when his pal Mel Gibson paid Downey’s insurance bond for the 2003 film The Singing Detective that his once stellar career was put back on track.

Thriller Zodiac followed in 2007 and in 2008 he finally made it back into Hollywood’s good books – first with Iron Man and then his Oscar-nominated role as a white man pretending to be black in war comedy Tropic Thunder.

The success story continued last year with Sherlock Holmes, which won him a best actor Golden Globe.

And now he’s back as millionaire turned metal man Tony Stark in Iron Man 2, which is out in a couple of weeks.

Downey, 45, said: “I’ve never been in a sequel. It’s very daunting because I feel the expectation of the millions of people who watched it and enjoyed it and told me that it was a little different than your usual genre picture – and that they expected us to not screw it up.

“So I have probably taken Iron Man 2 more seriously than any movie I’ve ever done, which is appropriately Hollywood.”

Now once again one of the industry’s most bankable actors, and happily married to film producer Susan Levin, Downey conceded that Tony Stark is him – just cooler.

He said: “There are a lot of similarities although in so many ways I’m nothing like the guy and I actually, really, had to play a much cooler version of myself.

“I’ve just seen a lot of cool guys in the movies and on the street as I was growing up and I just kind of did what they did.”

Any cool movie icons in particular?

“I saw Steve McQueen movies, I saw Paul Newman movies. I saw a couple of Marlon Brando movies.”

Having made his big screen debut aged five in one of his father’s films, Pound, Downey became one of Hollywood’s Brat Pack starring in flicks such as Weird Science and Less Than Zero.

He became friends with Mel Gibson while making 1990 film Air America, and earned his first Oscar nomination for his 1992 portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in Richard Attenborough’s biopic.

But it was Iron Man that turned Downey into a proper A-lister.

It became one of the biggest grossing films of the year and is regarded by many as the best film adaptation of a comic book superhero – and the actor agrees.

He said: “It’s mind-blowing to me because I’d always felt like I wanted to – and could – do something like this.”

The impact of the movie on his career hasn’t gone unnoticed by the man who many believe is the most talented actor of his generation.

But even though he is a bit of a nerd about the film, he dismisses any notion that he’s completely obsessed with Iron Man or Tony Stark.

He chuckled: “I have an Iron Man head at home and various other bits downstairs but my home isn’t a shrine to Iron Man. But I think it’s cool.”

Also returning are Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. But the sequel has some new faces.

Mickey Rourke, who is also continiung his comeback that started with The Wrestler, plays the baddie, Whiplash, while Scarlett Johansson is undercover spy Black Widow.

Sam Rockwell is another baddie, Justin Hammer, and Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard as Col James Rhodes, who becomes War Machine in Iron Man 2.

Method actor Rourke went one step further for his role as the Russian Ivan Vanko, who wields a pair of electrified, titanium whips to become Whiplash.

Downey revealed: “Mickey wanted to do his part in Russian. He had a dialect coach, so that was a very unique take.

“From the very start, he said, ‘I don’t want it to be Dolph Lundgren from Rocky V. I want to bring humanity and dimensions into it.’

“And I think he did that.”

There were some claims that Paltrow, who played the love interest in the first film, was put out by the arrival of Lost in Translation star Johansson.

Pepper Potts and Black Widow certainly create a love triangle with Tony Stark, so fans will see sparks, on-screen at least.

Downey said: “We were thrilled to get Scarlett and we said to her, ‘You’re not going to be some kind of Marve spin-off story thing because we want a hot chick kicking ass in this movie,’ and I think we managed that.

“And a love triangle is a device, and a love triangle is convenient, and a love triangle – even done badly – is better than not having one at all.”

In the movie, Whiplash goes after Tony Stark, whom the world now knows as Iron Man, with Hammer’s resources.

Stark is also being hounded by the government to give up his Iron Man suit and pressured by Col Rhodes into letting him help in fight the bad guys.

Deciding on the sequel, Downey revealed he and director Jon Favreau started at the fact that the original film ended with the revelation that the playboy weapons multi-millionaire was Iron Man.

Downey explained: “So how do we keep doing the unexpected? I think we just look deeper into what is the reality of what it would be like if you were that guy and that had happened to you and you said you were Iron Man.

“And I said, ‘I would probably really need a drink. And I would probably be also like really high on myself and feel like I had it all going on and I would feel invincible but I would also know that pride comes before fall.’

“So there are some really, really serious threats looming from inside Tony and from outside Tony.

“It just reminds me of Jaws 2 – just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water…”

Downey will reprise the role for 2012 film The Avengers, which will see a number of superheroes coming together – as hinted at at the end of 2008′s The Incredible Hulk.

Edward Norton, who played the title role in that movie, wants to star in the new film alongside Chris Evans as Captain America, Johansson as Black Widow, Cheadle as War Machine, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Jackson as Nick Fury.

For Downey, it will be the continuation of an impressive career revival.

Iron Man 2 is out on April 30. [SOURCE]