Exactly 9 years ago today, on May 7th, 2010, Iron Man 2 was released in theaters. The film was directed by Jon Favreau, featured a cameo by DJ AM and was dedicated to his memory:
About two months or so after Adam passed away, Jon Favreau contacted me about the desire to have Adam's scene remain in the movie and to dedicate the film to him. Jon expressed to me that Adam had a tremendous impact on not only him but also Robert Downey Jr. on the film set. Jon had one problem to work out though: the music had not yet been figured out for the scene in which Adam is in. He wanted that element of the film to be as authentic and respectful as possible under the circumstances. That's where I, Kevin Scott, came into the picture... Jon was calling to ask if I'd be interested in helping put together the mix for the scene with Adam in it. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity not only to help with the film's completion but, more importantly, to help honor my friend and represent him as best I could.
A few weeks later, I found myself at Marvel studios working directly with Jon. He was awesome to work with. He allowed me to come down several times to the studio to see a rough cut, sit in on a special EFX meeting and to see the music I created put in to film's final mix. At first, he showed me the scene as it was currently cut in the movie and then we went into his office where he had a turntable setup against one of the walls. I set up my laptop and proceeded to show him how I thought this scene could come together. At that point, Marvel had already cleared Queen "Another One Bites the Dust" for the film. That clearance hurdle was huge, it not only gave me a song that Adam used to play regularly but also a starting point & general BPM range for which to figure out how to put this scene together properly. My first thought was that I wanted the approximately 1 minute scene to move quickly & showcase several songs mixed together so it felt like he was really DJ'ing. Since "Another One Bites The Dust" was already cleared, I thought "It Takes Two" by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock made a lot of sense since it's two "friends" fighting it out and the BPM matched near perfectly with Queen. To finish the mix off, I really wanted to incorporate Daft Punk into the mix as they were Adam's biggest musical influence & personal favorite. "Robot Rock" was the perfect & logical choice for many reasons: tempo was close to the other two tracks, the two men in Iron Man suits were basically "robots" and the energy & feel of the song fit the climax of the battle really well. Luckily, music supervisor wizard, Dave Jordan, was able to clear all these first choices but it was not easy (or cheap). This online article below which came out as the film premiered shares Jon's quotes on including Adam in the film, his effect on cast & crew, my role in completing the scene & the music clearance difficulties:
In the finished product, Adam (or "Goldstein" as Iron Man calls him) appears as the DJ at Tony Stark's house party. The scene culminates with AM spinning the 3 song mix I put together while Iron Man & War Machine go toe-to-toe. Here's the full scene:
Here's a video Adam shot on his Blackberry of the DJ AM & Iron Man stickers being applied to his laptop while Jon Favreau practices on the on-set decks!
Here are a few behind-the-scenes set photos from Adam's personal archives:
When the film World Premiered in May 2009, I was invited to attend the Hollywood premier at the El Capitan theater to see the completed film on the big screen for the first time. I was also asked by Jon to DJ the afterparty. Here are a few photos of my experience from the red carpet premier & afterparty:
Sadly, AM never got to see the finished product as he passed on August 28th, 2009, more than 8 months before the film was released to the public. The film was a major commercial success grossing over 623 million dollars worldwide.
My sincere hope is that Adam would be proud of the job that Jon Favreau, myself & the rest of the team at Marvel did to keep his memory & the authenticity of his talent alive.