The first picture of Mickey Rourke (Whiplash) as Iron Man’s foe in “Iron Man 2” has arrived, featuring a shot of Whiplash wearing his armor suit with a power pack on his chest that looks similar to that of Iron Man’s.
Director Jon Favreau says:
The technologies are definitely related, and that’s part of the core theme of the film
Whiplash is the alter ego of Ivan Vanko, a Russian who, Favreau says, “has constructed his own version of a suit.” Among the creative alterations: a pair of whips, powered by the suit’s glowing chest piece, expected to keep Iron Man cracking. Whiplash “is going to light them up,” says Rourke.
The Guardian recently spoke with Mickey Rourke about playing the villain in Iron Man 2. Here is an excerpt:
And Iron Man 2, in which he plays Tony Stark’s tattooed Russian nemesis, Ivan, is possibly the biggest movie yet in Rourke’s new career. For Rourke this means going to Russia, drinking vodka and visiting jails to study prison tattoos and find his character’s tics. “I decided to do half my role in Russian,” he beams, “and that’s hard because the Russian language doesn’t roll off the English-speaking tongue very easily. I spent three hours a day with a teacher, and after two weeks I know four sentences! Let me see, it’s sort of like… ‘Yezzamee menya… Yezzamee manya obott… Er, nemaboootty menya…
This goes on for quite some time. “It means,” he says, finally, “If someone kills me, don’t wake me up, because I’d rather be dead than live in your world.
“Iron Man 2” hits theaters May 7, 2010 and also stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Garry Shandling, John Slattery, Kate Mara, Clark Gregg and Samuel L. Jackson.
