‘Iron Man’ crew focused on secrecy

A helicopter was used to dress the Olancha School terrorist site during filming of “Iron Man.” Photo courtesy Chris Langley

By Chris Langley
Inyo County Film Commission

5-22-2008

In the process of pre-production, movies go through many incarnations of scripts. When the right decisions are made by writers, the director, the producers and, at times, the studio heads, a fine film results. It is difficult but not impossible to track the development process.
I never saw a script the whole time I worked with location people, art directors and production design for “Iron Man.” I never saw a script during their set construction and shoot, nor during the clean up. A production person with another film that worked here briefly said “now-a-days feature films may never have a finalized script until the final edit is done.” With millions of dollars at stake, that would be a scary situation for the moneymen. At the same time, it allows the creative people and forces to have a wonderful freedom to create.

In the only script form I have been able to locate since the film came out (dated Oct. 21, 2004 by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar with revisions by David Hayter) the very opening shot is the jungle, not Afghanistan. However, Tony Stark does soon crash a spacecraft in Death Valley. “EXT. DEATH VALLEY – DAY. Fire trucks scream in toward the twisted, flaming wreckage. The crowd sighs. No one could’ve survived this crash. Slowly, the cockpit opens … The crowd holds its breath.”
By 2006 the production was looking for Afghanistan. Having traveled extensively there in pre-Soviet invasion days, I knew how much our locations looked like Afghanistan. Of all the areas, the panorama that opens up west of “Mother Hill” in the Alabamas was the most like what I remembered.

Lone Pine resident Daniel Smith (r) worked with another extra on the Olancha Sand Dunes site during the filming of “Iron Man.” Photo courtesy Chris Langley

After the second scout, it was clear that the production would come to Inyo County to work. I was very excited. I told this newspaper about it. I went before the Board of Supervisors on the same day to talk about the Film Commission. Upon seeing the story, a county employee who had signed a “non-disclosure agreement” called the Marvel Offices to report I had let the cat out of the bag. The location people went ballistic and only then did I fully appreciate how much Marvel wanted to control information about the film. I apologized to them to say no one had spoken to me about it. They said I needed to sign an “NDA” and proceed never to mention it again. I did learn to keep my mouth shut until after the film opened.
In retrospect I can see why such a premium was placed on secrecy. Speculation continued about Robert Downey Jr., as Tony Stark. Every fan had an opinion, most of whom were not shy about expressing it. When photos of the cave set appeared on the Internet, Marvel was again in an uproar. A tourist and fan had simply gone up the Cerro Gordo Road and taken pictures and posted them. It was big news.

The production crew on “Iron Man” kept a tight ship, adding extra security as filming progressed. The crew didn’t want images from the movie, like this prototype of the Jericho Missile system, to get leaked. Photo courtesy Chris Langley

The production company kept adding more and more security. The day I was on the set in the Alabama Hills, they had already brought in additional security from New York. I was escorted for the day and got access to the shoot but I was not allowed to take photos. I was very circumspect. I spoke with one of the security people who mentioned that they had to chase a “paparazzi” over hill and dale to keep them from getting pictures.
During the first week, the County and the Bureau of Land Management cooperated to close Movie Road for several days. First of all, with over one hundred trucks and vehicles, congestion was an issue. They had their own transportation system of buses and vans to get some of the five hundred people to where they needed to be. The second issue was security.
One local citizen from Independence and his son walked into the area to protest the closing of access on public lands. The chase was on. The fear was three- fold. The trespasser might ruin shots by getting into camera range. Complex pyrotechnics were being used and injury was a distinct possibility. Finally, there was fear of details of the work being leaked.
Several personnel, both production security and BLM rangers were called into the pursuit and it was finally resolved. It did not make Inyo County look “film friendly,” but no final harm was done.
Two more specific locations were identified for the April shoot. The Olancha sand dunes would be where Tony Stark was rescued, and where the terrorists captured the original iron man suit. Olancha School was turned into a Terrorist camp. The company was looking for a “cover set” where they could film inside so that weather couldn’t interfere should it turn bad. I suggested Olancha School Multi-purpose Room since the operations at the school were suspended. That was finalized for the three months and a nice fee was paid to the school district that allowed it to purchase attendance software. Movie production can benefit many different people and organizations.
The creative process of making a film on such a major scale can be captured in glimpses and then noted in retrospect from comments by cast members and crew. Next time we look at the collaborative process that led to the blockbuster film.

Langley can be reached by phone at (760) 937-1189 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it