Shane Black put himself on the map by writing Lethal Weapon, thus creating the most memorable buddy cop duo and franchise in movie history. At one point, Black was the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood collecting $1.75 million for The Last Boy Scout and another cool million for The Last Action Hero. Success behind the pen led him to write and direct his first feature, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang to positive reviews in 2005, but lukewarm box office receipts. However, Black was responsible for revitalizing Robert Downey Jr.'s career as his performance in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang proved he still had acting chops and got Jon Favreau's attention. The rest is history, but Black's history isn't so clear. Between 2005 and 2013, the only work Black really did was writing a lengthy treatment for Lethal Weapon 5 which never happened. However, with Favreau's blessing and a touch of RDJ's persuasion, Black agreed to direct Iron Man 3. When Black got the go ahead to direct and co-write Iron Man 3, it may have been possible that his Lethal Weapon 5 screenplay was still on his desktop because Iron Man 3 displayed familiar elements. Here's 5 reasons Iron Man 3 may have really been Lethal Weapon 5...
5. Merry Christmas
The original Lethal Weapon ended with Riggs giving Murtaugh the hollow point bullet he was intending to kill himself with as a Christmas present. Murtaugh invites Riggs inside for Christmas dinner and we witness the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang also features the beginnings of a wonderful partnership during the Christmas season between Harry and Perry, who happen to be played by the future Tony Stark and the former Bruce Wayne. Iron Man 3 was the first real blockbuster to kick off the summer movie mayhem, but was set during Christmas time. So what's up with Shane Black's affinity for setting his movies during Christmas?
"I think its a sense of if youre doing something on an interesting scale that involves an entire universe of characters, one way to unite them is to have them all undergo a common experience. Theres something at Christmas that unites everybody and it already sets a stage within the stage, that wherever you are, youre experiencing this world together. I think that also theres something just pleasing about it to me. I mean I did LETHAL WEAPON back in 87 and Joe liked it so much he put Die Hard at Christmas and there was some fun to that."
There you have it, and to further speculate on how appropriate it was for Iron Man 3 to be set during the holiday season, I like to think that Lethal Weapon 5 would have similarly taken place during Christmas. There's a tendency for sequels far removed from the original to return back to basics in terms of setting and story, so the sequel almost becomes an homage to the original and a crowd pleaser for fans of the original. Rocky Balboa did just that being the fifth sequel in the Rocky franchise; Rocky was wearing the same outfit from the first Rocky, the jog up the Philadelphia Museum of Art was familiar, and Rocky was a huge underdog much like he was in the beginning. Lethal Weapon 5 could've been set during Christmas time, a familiar setting for Riggs and Murtaugh to pick up where they left off. Instead, another duo picked up where they left off...