Mapping: “Iron Man 2″

We receive a glimpse of our world — digitally rendered and/or real — every time we watch a motion picture. But what role does location and setting really play in film? As an attempt at starting that conversation, we’ve started this series of interactive Google (film) maps, centered on movies for which location plays a significant role. Click on the embedded map below to open a larger map in a separate window. Then click on the map’s flagged spots — accompanying texts will appear — and move around as you like, stopping at the sites that interest you the most, to create a personalized narrative tour through this film’s locations.

Marvel Comics has a reputation for setting their film adaptations in the busy, loud, and overpopulated Manhattan. But director Jon Favreau (not Obama’s speechwriter, the guy from Swingers) bucked tradition when he chose Los Angeles for the Iron Man films.

L.A.’s the perfect backdrop for a story about an egotistical CEO who refuses to relinquish his mighty weapon, a suit painted in USC colors that can fly over rush-hour traffic and shoot at villains in the form of Mickey Rourke. Yet Favreau’s vision of the city isn’t about downtown’s historic architecture, Venice street artists, and the Hollywood sign. Instead, he gives us flashes of Malibu, Edwards Air Force Base, and the sprawling Huntington Library Gardens in Pasadena. Call it Everyday L.A., a setting that helps make a fantastic story feel rooted in the semi-real.

“Iron Man 2″ was primarily filmed throughout California, with some real shots of Monaco, New York, and D.C. blended with digital visualizations to create the world of Tony Stark. The film opens with a fictional recreation of the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., and moves onto Tony’s impossible, fictional house in Malibu. But don’t judge it for all its help with computer graphics; some locations are really L.A. landmarks, like Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood. Follow me to the “Iron Man” interactive map to learn more.