You know how there's no fool like an old fool? Well, how about a vengeful fool? So fired New Line founder Bob Shaye told his close pals the following story: 
Years ago, as everyone knows, New Line had Iron Man in development. But then Shaye and Avi Arad, the longtime chairman and CEO of Marvel Studios, got into an argument over whether Iron Man should fly. (This is what grown men debate in the movie biz...) Bob contended that Iron Man would look goofy soaring in an iron suit. But Avi was adamant that the pic had to stay true to the comic book so the character should take to the sky. Eventually the option ran out, and Marvel announced a deal with Merrill Lynch to self-finance future films. Now, most men would have left the argument there. Not Bob. He told his friends that he was so convinced Marvel would run into trouble on its Iron Man movie that he took out a big short on Marvel stock. 
But, as we all know, the pic not only made gobs of money, but Marvel shares shot skyward to an all-time high. And then the stock was recently listed on the S&P's midcap index so it went up another 4%. Now, most men would have given up there and then. Not Bob. He told his friends he was still shorting the stock because he believed Marvel would give it back when The Incredible Hulk failed. That didn't happen either. "Think of the hubris and the arrogance not only to be unable to let it go, but then to bet on Marvel's failure," one of his pals said semi-admiringly. "It's Shakespearean..."
What a shame these business people think they know the creative side of story-telling in arguing over story points.
Comment by Michael Dobrofsky — June 18, 2008 @ 6:09 pm
How dare you say Bob doesn’t know the creative side! I’ll have you know that he made “The Last Mimzy”, sir!*
*Said so sarcastically it made my fingernails fall off.
Comment by kevin — June 18, 2008 @ 6:58 pm
Don Murphy did the same thing. He went on and on about how “the director of Zathura” couldn’t cut it. Ouch.
Comment by Writer — June 18, 2008 @ 7:26 pm
This has got to be one of the best and funniest stories about Hollywood I’ve heard in years.
Comment by A. Dena — June 18, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
Thank god there’s not an impending SAG strike or anything to keep you from going after Bob Shaye once again.
Comment by FIelding Mellish — June 18, 2008 @ 8:38 pm
I can see Bob’s point, why make a superhero that can fly? I would have preferred an Ironman on roller skates!
Comment by JJ44 — June 18, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
I’d love to see a picture of Bob Shaye
in a turbin !
Comment by newsjunkie — June 18, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
L0L — What a douche
Comment by Don Simpson — June 18, 2008 @ 10:07 pm
Sounds more like a creative guy who doesn’t understand business.
Comment by John — June 19, 2008 @ 2:08 am
The funny thing is, Iron Man would’ve failed if they took Bob Shaye’s advice. So not only is there the schadenfreude amusement from Shaye losing a mint on this deal, but it also illustrates the arrogance in assuming that all people think exactly like he does.
Comment by Furious D — June 19, 2008 @ 4:38 am
I’m shocked that he didn’t do the same thing about making Frodo 6′4!
Wonder how his Jose Cuervo stock is doing?
Comment by RoachMan — June 19, 2008 @ 5:46 am
Thanks Nikki for this story, this is what I call cinema journalism.
It reminds me that when I was a kid there was a two-hour pilot called Exoman that was the only beginning of the notion of what we, french comic book readers, could hope of an (unofficial) adaptation of Iron Man.I’ve read in a book about unsold pilots that the potential subsequent show was killed because of endless discussions about the look of the toy based on the super hero.
What could have been the tagline of the poster of the New Line version: “You’ll believe a man cannot fly”?
Comment by Thierry Attard — June 19, 2008 @ 7:03 am
That’s why Bob Shaye is out of the job. You need common business sense or luck to gauge what would be profitable or not, and he doesn’t have either.
Comment by erich213 — June 19, 2008 @ 11:06 am
to be honest the movie was pretty bad so who cares?
Comment by fly a kite — June 19, 2008 @ 11:38 am
The funny thing is, the Iron Man character actually had retractable roller skates at one point. Either in the late 70s and/or early 80s. Forget why those at Marvel added them, and why it was taken away. But it never kept the character from being able to FLY as well.
Comment by mike — June 19, 2008 @ 1:44 pm
I love the contrast this world has to offer. I have trouble scraping 89 cents together for a taco half the time and douchebags like Bob Shaye have cash flowing down from their ceilings.
Comment by Marcus L. — June 19, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
Funny in retrospect: the previews where Downey says, “yeah, I can fly.” In addition to be a good line, extremely well-delivered, perhaps a subtle “F-you” to Shaye?
Comment by JoshA — June 19, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
Once a month he and the guy from Decca Records who passed on The Beatles get together for drinks and talk about how someday they will be proved right!
Comment by RichYan33 — June 20, 2008 @ 6:18 am
to be honest the movie was pretty bad so who cares?
Comment by fly a kite — June 19, 2008 @ 11:38 am
This is THE first person I’ve run into anywhere anyplace that didn’t like this movie!
Comment by RichYan33 — June 20, 2008 @ 6:41 am
“to be honest the movie was pretty bad so who cares?”
A pointless comment when you consider it’s going to be the first movie to hit $300 million this year. And the critical consensus was that it was a pretty good movie.
Comment by washington — June 20, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
Uhh, profits from shorting…
Who’s to say Shaye didn’t sell at 36?
If he covered Friday pm he’d be out low 33s for a sweet gain.
But the stock’s going below 30, so still plenty of time for even MVL insiders to bank major coin off the Hulk.
Bring me the head of Ed Norton.
NOT!!!!!!
Comment by Nardsbrau — June 21, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
Congress needs to pass a law barring that clueless putz from ever being involved in the production of a movie involving any comic book character ever again- even as a “gofer” getting coffee and danishes for people, under penalty of torture. He obviously has no clue as to what makes the characters interesting in the first place.
Comment by Dave — June 23, 2008 @ 3:41 pm
I guess that depends on your definition of failure. His may have missed the mark, but after the first two weekends, the 2008 version was still doing worse than Ang Lee’s.
Comment by Paul William Tenny — June 25, 2008 @ 12:11 pm