Iron Man | Behind-The-Scenes In January 1997, Nicolas Cage expressed interest in portraying the character, while in September 1998, Tom Cruise expressed interest in producing as well as starring in an Iron Man film. In June 2001, New Line Cinema entered talks with Joss Whedon, a fan of the character, to direct. New Line took a “unique” approach to writing the film’s script, hiring David Hayter, David S. Goyer, and Mark Protosevich to “sit in a room and simply talk on camera about Iron Man for a