the comic version of the character. According to Dale, "Ben Kingsley is the mouthpiece. Guy Pearce is the brain. I'm the muscle." William Sadler as Matthew Ellis: The President of the United States, named after Warren Ellis, who wrote the "Extremis" comics arc that primarily influenced the film's story. Miguel Ferrer as Rodriguez: The Vice President of the United States. Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan: Tony Stark's former bodyguard and chauffeur who now serves as Stark Industries' head of security department. Favreau, who served as both actor and director on the previous two Iron Man films, said participating in the new film was "like [being] a proud grandfather who doesn't have to change the diapers but gets to play with the baby." Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery: A British actor whom Killian hired to portray the Mandarin, a terrorist persona in jammed television broadcasts in which he is depicted as the leader of the international terrorist organization the Ten Rings. Kingsley was filming Ender's Game when he was cast, and said that, "Quite soon I'll be with everybody and we'll be discussing the look and the feel and the direction of the character. It's very early days yet, but I'm so thrilled to be on board." On his performance, Kingsley stated: "I wanted a voice that would disconcert a Western audience. I wanted a voice that would sound far more homegrown and familiar—a familiarity like a teacher's voice or a preacher's voice. The rhythms and tones of an earnest, almost benign, teacher—trying to educate people for their own good." The Mandarin was initially set to appear in the first Iron Man film, but he was put off for a sequel as the filmmakers felt that he was "too ambitious for a first [film]." On the character, Feige stated, "The Mandarin is [Iron Man's] most famous foe in the comics mainly because he's been around the longest. If you look, there's not necessarily a definitive Mandarin storyline in the comics. So it was really about having an idea." Shane Black explains Ben Kingsley's Mandarin is not Chinese in the film as he is in the comics in order to avoid the Fu Manchu stereotype: "We're not saying he's Chinese, we're saying he, in fact, draws a cloak around him of Chinese symbols and dragons because it represents his obsessions with Sun Tzu in various ancient arts of warfare that he studied."