Iron Man 2 Q&A: Part One

Robert Downey Jr on the set of Iron Man 2 with producer Kevin Feige (right).

In the first of a three-part “virtual roundtable” Q&A, Iron Man 2 producer Kevin Feige discusses how the Blu-ray release, which went on sale today, was forged.

Q – As you were filming Iron Man 2, did you think about certain extras you wanted to see on the Blu-ray?
A – The SHIELD Data Vault goes back to a discussion we had during Iron Man 1 and was something we knew we wanted to include on Iron Man 2. The documentary was something else we planned from the beginning. As you can tell, [director] Jon [Favreau] was very open to having cameras on set and sharing the process with the fans. We had the great Sean Ricigliano following him with a camera at every turn.

Q – Is the SHIELD Vault intended to be an evolving feature on Iron Man 2 via BD-Live or will more robust versions of the Vault appear on Thor and Captain America next fall?
A – One of the great things about Blu-ray technology is the ability to expand and update the content via BD-Live and that’s certainly part of our discussion. We’ve had fun discussions about how to expand this experience on future releases, but clearly we need to wait and see how it is received on this release.

Q – What limits have you stretched of what the Iron Man 2 Blu-ray experience of the film can be?
A – With more disc space we were able to offer the long form documentary, and superb video and audio quality, as well as the multiple viewing modes, allowing viewers the choice of how deeply they want to delve into the extra content.

Q – Will there be upcoming BD-Live rewards such as Thor and Captain America footage for Iron Man 2 Blu-ray owners?
A – For the first time it’s exciting that BD-Live can be part of the discussions for marketing our upcoming movies.

Q – More an observation than a question. I watched the IM2 Blu-ray bonus features last night and applaud the Ultimate Iron Man documentary that does not require flipping through 10 different two-minute featurettes to get a flavour for the making-of. Hope to see a similar approach taken on future Marvel Studios live-action film home video releases …
A – That’s something we focused on a lot and something that Jon and I thought was very important. In many respects we’re fans first and tried to put on the disc the kinds of things we would want to see.

Q – Can you talk a bit about the Easter Eggs on the Iron Man 2 release, specifically the connections to other Marvel Studios characters?
A – The fun thing about Easter Eggs is letting people discover them themselves, and while many have been discussed already, there are others still waiting to be found and many that may not become clear until you see our future releases.

Q – When it comes to extras, how much are you motivated by looking at what you’ve done before, what other discs have done and trying to top them?
A – It’s been two years since we released a Blu-ray and we spent a lot of time looking at what other discs have done successfully, particularly Paramount’s releases of the great Star Trek and Transformers 2 Blu-rays.

Q – How do you decide on which deleted scenes to include in the DVD?
A – We included the ones that we always liked but that didn’t work within the movie.

Q – Do you feel a strong need to stay current with new technology in BD or 3D?
A – We need to keep on top of advancements in every technical arena in order to provide the best movie watching experiences.

Q – What are some of the Iron Man 2 features that ended up on the cutting room floor and would they ever be offered up in a different form like online or new release?
A – While we believe the best stuff ended up on the disc, there are a few sequences that were abandoned early on and are very unfinished… but could find their way onto a 50th anniversary edition.