A first look at Iron Man!

Jon Favreau has been busy shooting Iron Man for a few weeks now and, far from drawing a metal curtain of secrecy around the process, he’s been happy to talk about the experience of making the movie.

"We are done with the first week of photography. I am happy to report that the ten months of preparation allowed the extremely challenging first week to come off without a hitch," he blogged late last month. “The look is fantastic and the performances are great as well. Robert Downey Jr was definitely the right choice to play Tony Stark. I'm looking forward to getting out of the 'cave.' The first few weeks of shooting are spent, somewhat in sequence, establishing Stark's captivity. It sets the table tonally for the rest of the film. The close quarters and tight schedule make it the toughest part of the shoot on the cast and crew."

The story, of course, finds Stark kidnapped and forced to build a deadly weapon. But he uses his keen skills to build something else entirely…

And now the first picture of Stark has popped up on the web – AKA Iron Man in costume. But before you start worrying that he looks like the child of The Iron Giant, rather than the more traditional red and gold suit from the comics, fret not. This is simply the Mark One version he builds when in captivity. It’s later in the movie that he ends up having the more recognised suit constructed…

With Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terence Howard and Jeff Bridges in the cast, Iron Man will clank into cinemas in May 2008.

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