Entertainment weekly continues to bring us more Iron Man 3 exclusives from their extensive interview with Robert Downey Jr. and today he explains that Sir Ben Kingsley’s character, The Mandarin, will end up being a huge fan favorite.

When EW asked about working with Kingsley and whether they bonded during the filming he said that they actually had more time to speak with one another after he “busted his ankle.” Robert Downey Jr. goes on to say that they “hadn’t worked together so we shared only Lord Attenborough, and yeah, of course, there was a connection. We took some pictures together to send Dickie, which must be the strangest visual for him to see — the two of us playing the bad guy and the good guy. We shot them out in front of a mansion in Miami, it was a magical place, actually. [Vizcaya] was an interesting place, very cool.”

Downey Jr. then explained that his ankle injury was somewhat of a blessing in disguise as it was the first time he’d been able to take a break two-thirds of the way through a film and “re-calibrate everything and prepare for all the hurdles ahead.” He also brought up his pal Rhodey and that there was quite a bit of fighting to finish in the last leg of filming:

“As you know, I busted my ankle [in August] and we shut down for a little while, and it ended up being great for us. It was the first time [on any movie] in my personal history we got the creative luxury of being able to stop about two-thirds of the way through and really re-calibrate everything and prepare for all of the hurdles ahead. And the mainstay of the Ben/Mandarin was kind of up next and straight away throughout, and then lots of Rhodey stuff and lots of fight stuff.”

Robert seems to think very highly of Sir Ben, and even goes so far as to say that while there are “many contenders” in Iron Man 3, “Sir Ben is probably going to steal the movie. There are a lot of contenders who may, but right now he’s probably at the top of that list. He came in as,

obviously – speaking of training – as such a technically proficient instrument. And then what proceeded to happen was the release of more vintage, old-school Favreau [improv] stuff with a Shane Black twist on it. It was kind of frightening to witness, I’ll tell you that much.”

Usually it’s the norm to see an actor praising the work of someone he’s in a film with, but we know Downey Jr. to be a straight-shooter and this endorsement of The Mandarin sure gives fans something to get excited about, as we’ll get to see Sir Ben Kingsley in Iron Man 3 when it hits theaters May 3, 2013.

Check out the rest of the exclusive interview from Entertainment Weekly as they continue their five-part interview with Iron Man 3’s star Robert Downey Jr.