Cheadle’s in for the very long haul
Actor lands lengthy gigs in Iron Man films, House of Lies
LOS ANGELES — Don Cheadle likes to keep promises. So he’s duty-bound to stay long-term with a film franchise and a TV series.
Commitment anxiety is eased a great deal by the fact that the movie series is the hit Iron Man and the show is the acclaimed House of Lies.
“I knew going in to Iron Man 2 that I was saying ‘yes’ to five or six films,” said Cheadle relaxing in a Beverly Hills Hotel suite. “It was the same way with House of Lies, signing a multi-year contract.
“You need to be prepared for that.”
The 48-year-old couldn’t be happier with the double duty. He just wrapped House of Lies’ second season and is preparing to start filming the third in September.
Currently, he’s in the middle of worldwide promotional duties for Iron Man 3 and he’s appreciating the favourable response to his elevated status in the action.
Opening May 3, the superhero film has Cheadle’s Col. James Rhodes more involved with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark — a.k.a.: Iron Man – as they battle the terrorist mastermind The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) and two manipulative scientists (played by Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall) who are out for power and money.
Gwyneth Paltrow is back as CEO Pepper Potts, now a Stark love interest. Despite stepping down as director, Jon Favreau returns, too. His Happy Hogan has been promoted from Stark driver to the head of Stark Industries security.
In the latest Iron Man, the stronger bond between Rhodes and Stark might have something to do with the fact that Shane Black replaced Favreau as director. Black, who also cowrote the Iron Man 3 screenplay, is best known as the creator of the buddy-cop franchise Lethal Weapon.
“Shane ( Black) almost coined this and put a stamp on the buddy-action movies,” Cheadle said. “I was clearly in the pocket with Robert on this one, so it was great to see the whole movie put together in the end because we were all on different tracks.” Mind you, Cheadle and Downey Jr. had already connected on Iron Man 2. Both are strong improvisers who prefer to change things up, usually with Downey Jr. taking the lead. And that’s fine with his co-star.
“It’s a good marriage between actor and character,” Cheadle said of the similarities between Downey Jr. and the control freak inventorbillionaire. “So I knew what it was when I signed on the dotted line.”
In the end, it was Downey Jr. who pushed for Cheadle to assume the role vacated by Terrence Howard in the first Iron Man.
“I think (Robert) understood we could play that point-counterpoint thing well,” Cheadle said of the recommendation. “And I like being off the cuff, because it suits me, and we are both very comfortable with that.”
Sometimes the banter arrived easily for them. Sometimes they had to suss it out.
“Before a scene, Robert and I were always in a room going on about what we might do, like, ‘Let’s do this or let’s do that,’” Cheadle said. “We were very malleable together, but we were also cognizant of the fact that our characters had to exist in the Iron Man world.”
Besides, Cheadle has been there and done that previously with George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the Ocean’s caper trilogy.
He also managed variations on the theme of impromptu moments in Devil in a Blue Dress, Boogie Nights, Out of Sight, Traffic and Crash, and for his Academy-Award-nominated role in Hotel Rwanda.
Last year, he co-starred with Denzel Washington in Washington’s Oscar-honoured portrayal of the dysfunctional pilot in Flight.
Amazingly enough, filming of that production was sandwiched between Cheadle’s busy schedules for House of Lies, and Iron Man 2 and 3.
And while House of Lies is far from the superhero genre, it is extravagant in a risqué kind of way.
In the series, Cheadle plays a brilliant but self-deprecating Marty Kaan.
He leads a conniving management consultant team (played by Kristen Bell, Ben Schwartz and Josh Lawson) on weekly assignments.
The show has earned lots of praise, decent ratings and an Emmy nomination for Cheadle to go along with his Hotel Rwanda Oscar nod.
Indeed, the biggest challenge for cast and crew is to improve on the previous episode.
“We know that, so we get in there and roll up our sleeves each time,” noted Cheadle who said improvisation is often encouraged and sometimes required for survival.
“We all can’t wait for the opportunity, because we know if we’re not going to play like that, we will get run over.”
The tactic seems to be working.
Even the reaction from real management consultants has been sort of positive toward House of Lies, which counts as a raunchy satirical expose.
“It is a mixed review from consultants,” agreed Cheadle smiling.
“They say, ‘It’s great, now shut the f--- up.”