July 2025

Iron Man: Heavy-Metal Hero

This in-depth look at the making of Iron Man first appeared in American Cinematographer's May 2008 issue. For full access to our archive, which includes more than 105 years of essential motion-picture production coverage, become a subscriber today. Matthew Libatique, ASC has never shied away from bold strokes in his work, but his latest project, Iron Man, required him to restrain some of his more experimental inclinations. “Typically, I take an aggressive tack to visual language, but on Iron Man, [director] Jon Favreau’s intention was to have the actors do the majority of the work and the camera do less of it,” he says. “I had to view the camera as a facilitator of the actors, not solely of the cinematography. This film, more than any...more