Tony Stark and Robert Downey Jr.

Director John Fabro rented out a complex in Los Angeles that once belonged to Hughes Aircraft, the aerospace and defense contractor started about 80 years earlier by Howard Hughes. The facility had a series of interlocking hangers and served as a production office for the movie. It also supplied Robert Downey Jr., who was to play Iron Man and his human creator Tony Stark with a splash of inspiration. He set off in March 2007 for SpaceX's headquarters in El Segundo and wound up receiving a personal tour from Musk.