How this scene fits into the dream sequence/hallucination/epilepsy attack canon is complex, given the big reveal at the end of the film. Suffice to say, Robbins plays a Vietnam veteran who had an experimental hallucinogen tested on him, which was supposed to increase his aggressiveness. Thanks to WindowLickinDayWalker for the suggestion!

Talking to Reel Talk, Robbins said that the Iron Man cameo was "an internet rumor," adding "You can't trust those internets," leading some to think that it wasn't going to happen. But where does he actually say that said rumor isn't true? And what about the "few projects... all secret" that Robbins said that he's working on? Couldn't they be Iron Man 2, and the Captain America appearance that Howard Stark was supposed to be making? Call us cynical, gullible or just plain wanting to believe, but to us, Tim Robbins is Howard Stark - until he fails to make an appearance in the movie itself.

Tim Robbins on 'Iron Man 2' [Reel Talk]

Latino Review is reporting that Tim Robbins will play Howard Stark, Tony's genius inventor father, in flashback scenes for the second Iron movie that will set up both the Captain America and Avengers movies (I know that they'll most likely be scenes where Stark invents Cap's Super Soldier formula, but I'd much rather see him say "I've got it! We can freeze him in ice at the end of the Cap film and then start Avengers with him being discovered!" just for the meta-value of it all).

Perhaps more unexpectedly, they're also claiming that former-villains-turned-Avengers Hawkeye and the Black Widow will have large roles to play in the sequel; if true, then we may have found our nemeses for Tony to deal with - and then rehabilitate in time for the Avengers movie, perhaps - this time around.

Exclusive Scoop: The Player May Join Stark Industries [Latino Review]

How much research did you do for the movie?

Tim Robbins: I dug a hole, and I went inside of it. A very deep hole. A very deep hole. And then I covered myself. And, yeah, I had a little light. And then I waited till the light was extinguished, and then I had it all right there. [Laughs] Sorry, I went for the humor.

Saoirse Ronan: I don't know. It's kind of one of those characters; I don't think you can really research somebody who is buried underground, who lives underground. And, obviously, nobody here would have experienced that. So I think it was one of those characters where you just have to do it in the moment. And as long as I had [The Director] Gil [Kenan] there, I was fine, you know? And he was, like, my research guide, if that makes sense.

Bill Murray: I did a little research. I found that the book was a book that kids in America read in school now. They read it in middle school. And when I told my sons I was going to be in The City of Ember, they said, "Oh! You're going to be the Mayor?" And I hadn't even read the script or the movie yet. And I thought, "They already know what's being spoken about, and I don't." So when I read it, I read it from their point of view.

I tried to think of what they made of what this guy was, what this mayor was [in] the book and the script. And I think to the degree that a mayor can be a father figure who can disappoint you. I'm a father figure, and I've probably disappointed on occasion. I thought, when you're most disappointed is when you talk the talk and you don't live up to it. And that's pretty much what this guy did. So I felt as long as I was really, really successful in talking the talk, that the disappointment would be there, just like a gasp.

The mayor seems to be eating every other time we see him. And primarily we saw him slurping on a lot of (really big) sardines from cans. Did you have to suck down all that food? Did you enjoy it?

Murray: I'm not really a sardine guy. I do like caviar. I do. And I like eggplant. And I can eat copious amounts of caviar and a fair amount of eggplant. This was the most sardines I've ever eaten in my entire life. And I associate sardines with being these little things. These were [makes a face stretches out his hand] serious sardines, this big.

Ronan: They were!

Murray: These were.

Robbins: You don't get a stunt eater?

Murray: I got no stunt pay whatsoever. It was a lot. It was a lot of sardines, more than I've ever had. It got kind of funny.

Did you perceive a correlation or metaphor in the film to our current situation now?

Murray: Tim could you take this one?

Robbins: No I already took that one [Laughs].

Murray: Well you certainly feel it. It came up today: is this movie like what we are living through now? Is it intentionally written to be like what we're going through now? To be fair, you don't want to accuse a writer to be intentionally mirror-like or being metaphorical about your current situation.

But I think what it is, is the same combination of problems happened in that world, that happened in our world. Whatever your intention is, you're still going to encounter a lot of the same difficulties. So whether you say it's a movie about preserving our environmental resources — well no, not necessarily.

I think it's about a person who finds a way to survive in spite of all that's around them. They find their personal will and kind follow their will and their spirit to emerge from a difficult situation. And on on the way to that, you encounter this ecological consideration that we have: "How am I going to live my life? Am I going to live my life like this? Is behaving as an eco-creature going to help me serve my spirit? I think it was inevitably coincidental, but I don't think it was intentional. When you go on this search, seeking your own personal answers, you're going to encounter those things.