Iron Man 2's Justin Theroux on How He Suddenly Became an A-List Screenwriter

This film also had a luxury that many tentpoles don't -- it had almost a full year in post-production, and you even got to go back for a few weeks of reshoots. How did that help?

Jon likes to say that the last part of the writing process is in the editing. We had so much material that we'd shot, so much usable and unusable footage, and I think once we got in the editing room, we realized, "Oh, we can sweeten this, we can draw this out here." I don't like to really dissect the post schedule because a lot of those decisions were Jon's -- I wasn't really in the editing room -- but I trust that all those decisions were well thought out.

What's it like to be the subject of all this scrutiny as a writer, instead of as an actor?

I try to take everything with a grain of salt. I don't really read reviews; I'm not hearing any praise, and I'm not hearing anything negative, really. I just try to do my job and leave it at that. It doesn't help you, you know what I mean? You learn your mistakes during the endeavor -- you don't learn them afterward by someone wagging a finger at you or patting you on the back. There will always be things that I love or things I wish I could have changed.

So what did you love about Iron Man 2?

I really love that we addressed that character in real-world terms, or as real as possible for a superhero movie. I like that we met the last part of the first movie head on, him saying, "I am Iron Man," and addressed what happened when a guy comes out as a superhero and has to live on those terms in the real world.

With Iron Man 2, Tropic Thunder, the Zoolander sequel, and some of your other projects in the works, you've written for directors who also act. How might they approach material differently than a normal director?

I don't know, because now that I think of it, I haven't written for a director who's not an actor! I think actor-directors just have a really good bulls**t meter. They can cut to the chase a lot quicker, and they can essentially be acting the movie in their heads as they're reading your pages. They know what won't work, as hopefully do I. They can spot excess fat in a script quicker than most people.

So you're saying that the Zoolander sequel is still on, as far as you know. Is there a shoot date?

No, there's not a shoot date yet, because there's no script yet. I've gotta get the script in first, and once that happens, we'll start pre-production and pick a date to start shooting.

Is it easier to write something larky like Zoolander 2, as opposed to an Iron Man sequel?

The obligations are different. For Iron Man 2, there are certain things you have to address, there's a template for where that movie has to go, there's action scenes, et cetera. The characters are pre-set -- as are the ones in Zoolander, but we maybe get to have a little more
fun playing with it in Zoolander. We can sort of poke fun at the fact that it is a sequel, and you don't have to be as reverential to the characters, necessarily.

Did you really go to Fashion Week in Paris as research?

I really went to Fashion Week in Paris!

And what did you take from that experience?

It's just really fun. The whole point of fashion, really -- or at least, the point during the shows at Fashion Week -- is to be outrageous and over the top, and boy, do they do it! It's like a prettier Hollywood. [Laughs] It's completely absurd.

You strike me as a pretty fashionable guy, though. Had you been to many fashion shows before this?

I've been to fashion shows in New York before, but just as a bystander. This time, I felt like I had a little more at stake. I had a really good time. I laughed more this time, watching it through that prism of [Zoolander].

Are you guys still proceeding with the assumption that you'll have Owen Wilson and Jonah Hill on board?

Yeah, we hope so. We hope so.

Jon Favreau upped his own screen time in Iron Man 2. Will you take a cue from him and give yourself more to do as the evil DJ in Zoolander 2?

[Laughs] I'm gonna make it all about the DJ! You know, if there's a place for him in the story, I'll put him there for sure, but there might not be. We don't know. We're trying to figure it out.

Last question: Laura Harring recently said that she thought David Lynch was formulating a sequel to Mulholland Drive. Have you heard anything about it?

I haven't heard that at all. I would be shocked if that happened. I would not expect it.

[Lead Photo Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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