On Set Interview: Mark Ruffalo Says Iron Man/Hulk 'Avengers 2' Friction Is A Little Like 'Cool Hand Luke'

On June 12th 2014, I visited the London set of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Today we'll be posting a couple of the interviews we conducted while on set. The second of which is with Mark Ruffalo, who is reprising his role as Bruce Banner, aka The Incredible Hulk. You can listen to or read the whole interview after the jump, but I wanted to lead off with Ruffalo's explanation of how Hulk's friction with Iron Man in The Avengers: Age of Ultron is a little bit like Cool Hand Luke:

It's a little bit like Cool Hand Luke that way. You think you could beat me and then I'll beat the crap out of you... and then I beat the crap out of him. [LAUGHS] It's kinda' like that, but not totally like that. It has a surprise — a little twist to it as well.

Read or listen to our whole Mark Ruffalo Avengers 2 set interview after the jump.

The following interview with Mark Ruffalo was conducted on the London set of Avengers: Age of Ultron on June 12th 2014. There I participated in with in a roundtable with a group of movie blog colleagues:

The interview began with us joking about how Mark got taken aside by Marvel security when he tried to show us a image of the new design for The Incredible Hulk which was on his cellphone during our on set interview with him during the original Avengers.

Mark Ruffalo: I don't have my phone with me. They, they purposely left pockets out of my costume for some bizarre reason now. Maybe that's it.Question: So you got the script and you were noticing that the beginning has you in relationship with Scarlet's character Black Widow. Were you like this is gonna' be a very tough job.

Mark Ruffalo: Uh we don't have a relation– What kind of relationship?

Question: We heard that maybe there was a closer relationship between the characters?Mark Rufallo: (looks over to the Marvel staff sitting in on the interview) Did you tell him that? Oh yeah I'll play along. Yeah, yeah. There's a really important relationship between.... Um I was just happy that I was in the movie at all and any scenes that I got to be with her were a big bonus.Question: It seems like the response to the Avengers, the way the Hulk was handled and the way that Bruce was handled, it feels like Marvel finally figured how that character—and you guys were finally able to make the definitive Hulk. This time around what is the balance between Banner and Hulk?Mark Ruffalo: There's more of him and I think Banner and Hulk have come to a detaunt. [LAUGHS] We left the last time with this idea that you know I'm always angry and, and therefore I have some control over it. But when you think you have control over [anger], you absolutely don't. And so there's still wrangling going on in there, there is a confrontation [LAUGHS] brewing between the Hulk consciousness and the Banner consciousness thatnI think we're starting to head into right now.Question: We got a really good idea of the relationship between Tony and Bruce in Avengers. Obviously in Iron Man 3 it's kinda hinted that it's continued. We've heard that they both have an extremely important role in the creation of Ultron. That seemed like a very core relationship. Can you talk about that?Mark Ruffalo: Yeah, basically Tony took the orphan Banner into the fold. I was just made aware of where my apartment was in the Stark Tower. I have a Lab and you know Banner's working on a lot of stuff, Tony's working on his own stuff and they complement each other. Going into this film they've been working together and they've gotten a short hand together but not really know how to work well together. So that's been uh built out quite a lot and it's fun. It's cool. [LAUGHS]Question: As a follow up they had mentioned yesterday that you fight Tony as the Hulk buster. Is that more of a like hey can I take you down? Like a mutual decision fight?Mark Ruffalo: You mean like, "Hey, hey let's see if we can– it's a little bit like Cool Hand Luke that way." You think you could beat me and then I'll beat the crap out of you and then I beat the crap out of him. [LAUGHS] It's kinda' like that, but not totally like that. It has a surprise — a little twist to it as well. Is that alright Barry? (looks over at the Marvel guy) Yeah.Question: You and Joss did a really good job developing Banner for the first movie. And we haven't really seen him much since then. When he came into the movie you guys have more places you wanted to go with him. Do you already know from the last movie that you had more that you wanted to develop with him?Mark Ruffalo: Yeah, I think he's trying to become more a part of a group. I don't think he's ever felt like part of a family or part of something. He's always sort of been this outside or on the run or trying to shun humanity. [LAUGHS] But now I feel like he has the idea that maybe he is part of something and he's trying to really be a part of something and feels more comfortable with the fantasy that he could actually be a part of something. But I still think it's a struggle for him and I never think that he quite has it under control. But I think in this, this version he's sort of as close to having a normal life as he possibly could. Which might include... (looks over at the Marvel security guy) some romance. But is that ever possible for Banner is really the question.Question: Cap, Thor and Iron Man had their own movies to kind of like develop their characters. Do you have to do that in this movie? Is it harder to do that in the movie?Mark Ruffalo: Well I think the mythology of Banner is just kind of known because of the other movies. We're sort of building off of them but, but it's similar. He's on the run. He doesn't wanna' turn into the Hulk. All people want him to do is to turn into the Hulk [LAUGHS] and so it's not as uphill a battle as introducing a completely new character. And the nature of these movies is there's 8 of us and — I worked it out. It's 10 minutes of screen time for each of us and then if we include the bad guys. So it's hard to really do a lot of character development in it. But I think this movie goes even more into that than the last one for everybody. And um and so you're sort of playing catch up, but also I think you wanna' be ambiguous enough not to cover too much ground so that you have somewhere to go if they ever do wanna' do another stand alone.Question: We heard that Andy Serkis was somehow involved in the early stages of this one. Which is fascinating as performance capture gets more and more advanced each year. What's that process been like for you? And how much more you is there in the Hulk?Mark Ruffalo: We've done a lot more with the motion capture and because the face capture and the motion capture can now be put together you just got a lot more latitude as a performer. So Andy's been working on this new frontier of taking motion capture and instead of it just being a place holder that can be basically a place holder for CGI that it becomes more of a collaboration where the Actor really can add performance to it. The last one we were trying to do that but it was difficult. Now the technology is taking another step forward. Andy has created a space and this new attitude towards motion capture that honors the Actor a bit more than it was in the past — not that there was dishonor. It's just organic process of making those two things work really well together in the context of a production of another movie that has a first unit going — a lot of importance is put on the first unit, but now they're starting to look at motion capture in a equal sort of way. That's what Andy's after and that's what I'm after. I see the motion capture as this incredible new place for us to give performance that we never had before, that's more like kind of a puppeteering. You're no longer are constricted by the attributes that you have as a person your age, weight or size. None of that matters anymore. And so there's this whole exciting place to go that is kind of unknown.Question: It's almost like going back to your theatre origins.Mark Ruffalo: It's very much like theater because it's all imagination. You know you don't have a forest in front of you in the theater. You don't have a castle, but you have to put that there for yourself. And so whatever theater training I had is very, very much in tune with this oddly enough. The oldest form of acting all of a sudden meets the newest form of acting. And they're very compatible to each other. It's very exciting. Andy has really done a lot to make it so the Actor's driving it.Question: One of the things they we were talking about yesterday was Scarlet Witch sort of being able to call off the demons of the Avengers. And it was your character that–Mark Ruffalo: That's a bad trip.Question: Is she able to just call up the Hulk and control him?Mark Ruffalo: It's not– she's able to bring out the worst in us. [LAUGHS] And there are people in our lives who can do that. And somehow when you're an Actor you tend to gravitate towards those people. She's that bad– she's like– it's like Sid and Nancy. She's the Nancy. She's everyone's Nancy. [LAUGHS]Question: Of all these new characters that are in this movie is there someone that excites you the most that you really think is cool and that audiences will really freak out about?Mark Ruffalo:  I love the new kids on the block. I love um Wanda and yeah Pietro, Quick Silver. They're cool. They're really cool. The characters.Question: The Vision.Mark Ruffalo: The Vision is the Vision. He is so dope. And he's my baby. Yeah he's pretty incredible. And,  the idea of him and where he comes from and he's very independent. He's is a really great character. People are gonna' love the Vision. And Ultron's amazing. He's amazing. It's really good.Question: How much one-one-one time did you have with Spader?Mark Ruffalo: We had a lot of scenes together as a group. I don't have– I have a couple of one-on-one things with him, but I love him. He's great. And he's gonna' be– it's like King Lear. It's great.Question: Do you guys enjoy watching Paul Bettany being tortured? Robert seems to enjoy it.Mark Ruffalo: All I know is I'm happy that I walk in and I leave the trailer and I can go back an hour later and Paul Bettany's still in make-up. [LAUGHS] And I'm 46 years old. That makes me feel good. Sorry Paul. But you should see him. He's a specimen when he walks onto that thing, like the perfect man. He's the Vision.Question: I'm curious about this cool little house party that goes on in this movie. Are you as the Hulk or as Banner?Mark Ruffalo: Banner. Mostly indoors I have to be Banner. That's kind of the rule. It's like leave your shoes at the door — you leave your Hulk at the door. Yeah they don't like him. Hulk still has a little bit of ADHD kid thing going on. [LAUGHS]Question: How much dialogue Hulk might have in the film? Cause in the first movie he has two amazing lines. "I'm always angry" and "Puny God." Does he have anything like that in the sequel? Any one-liners?Mark Ruffalo: We're sorta' still working that out. We're just kind of trying to figure out– there's a couple of different places to do it, but he's not gonna' have a soliloquy. Not yet anyway. Um but we're working for that — Joss has a couple ideas where to put–Question: Has he told you the lines yet?Mark Ruffalo: No. That's the thing, but I kinda' know where we're headed with it, but he hasn't given me the line yet.Question: Talking with Joss Whedon yesterday he told us one of the dominant themes in the film is the idea of being destroyed by power. And obviously there is a lot of power that exists in Bruce Banner. I'm curious how you see the theme kind of affecting the film overall and towards Bruce.Mark Ruffalo: The essential struggle that he's having in, throughout his life [LAUGHS] probably, but specifically in this is that you know he does have that destructive side of him. That's not gonna' ever go away and theres a little fantasy that that might be under control. But ultimately that might just be a fantasy for him. And so you know that conflict is always gonna' be there that there might never be a resolve to that, because that power is really destructive.Question: Is he still constantly searching for that solution?Mark Ruffalo: Yeah I don't know. I think he wishes he could find it. There's no doubt about that, but it's like you get to be a certain age and you have to start to practice radical acceptance or you just keep banging your head up against the same wall. I think he's starting to get to that place where he's like, "Okay how do I live with this? How do I make it work for me?" How do I manage– it's like management. It's like having a slipped disc.Question: I was curious about that. We saw a lot of labs. I'd imagine a lot of scientists there. I'd imagine the Hulk would be the number one priority. Tony wouldn't even want to lose the Hulk. It's kind of weird.Mark Ruffalo: No Tony's mantra is like, "Embrace it dude" you know.Question: Cause the Hulk us useful to the team?Mark Ruffalo: Yeah, in little doses. So he's like a nuclear bomb you know. It's tough to get very technical with it. I think it's a matter of management and control really at this point. Rather than just like shutting him down completely. Plus the weird thing about the Banner/Hulk relationship is the more work they do into it, the more he turns as the Hulk, the more established the Hulk becomes in his identity. And so you have these two identities that really wanna' dominate the other. It's not getting easier to refer one or the other to be the dominant driver.Question: Can they co-exist?Mark Ruffalo: I don't know, it's tough. [LAUGHS] But they're gonna' have to work it out 'cause they didn't– there's serious tension there and it's only growing.