Comedian Garry Shandling has been enlisted in the Iron Man 2 promotional cause. He plays a U.S. senator in the film -- a relatively small role, some might say, but not Shandling himself. In an interview with New York magazine, Shandling noted that originally his role "was like three pages, and we talked about it and by the time I sat down with Robert Downey, it was twelve pages. Then it was fifteen pages. I'm at the beginning of the movie and at the end of the movie, so my fear was that the other actors would screw up the middle part and the audience would forget who I was. That's what a lot of people try to do wrap the work around me so that it starts strong and ends strong. And the last scene is the power position. Without me, the closing credits can't start." When the magazine observed that, since he was playing a U.S. Senator, he could filibuster, Shandling agreed. "I could filibuster -- and then no one would see their name at the end, so I had a lot of leverage."

07/05/2010