Filmmaker Jon Favreau Shares Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Iron Man, Elf, and Star Wars
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - APRIL 23: (L-R) Actors Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johansson, director/actor Jon Favreau, actor Robert Downey Jr., actress Gwyneth Paltrow, and actor Don Cheadle attend the "Iron Man 2" Los Angeles Photo Call at The Four Seasons on April 23, 2010 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/WireImage)Jesse GrantLess beloved was Favreau’s 2005 follow-up, Zathura: A Space Adventure, a sequel of sorts to Jumanji that, despite garnering a cult following over the years, temporarily halted his directing career. “Zathura did not do very well,” he says. “I learned later from [President of Marvel Studios] Kevin Feige that it made me a perfect candidate for Iron Man.”Long before The Avengers redefined modern moviegoing, early Marvel Cinematic Universe titles stuck to a far-smaller budget, and Favreau came just at the right price. But he still had to convince the studio to hire Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark after the actor’s turbulent few years in the public eye. Plus, says Favreau, “They questioned his age for the role,” a memory that makes the director laugh given that a RDJ, age 41, when the 2008 original was shot, played the superhero well into his 50s.With the 2010 sequel, Favreau says he got familiar with the “mixed blessing of expectation based on past success.” With more attention on Iron Man 2, it was Favreau’s job to tune out any noise that could interfere with the creative process. “Sometimes it’s protecting the set from the outside world. Sometimes you’re working with somebody very famous,” he says. After the first film reintroduced Downey Jr. to mainstream moviegoing audiences, “Robert became much more famous,” Favreau continued. “Their whole life shifts. These are all things that make it a more complex thing than just trying to build something from scratch.”Although Iron Man 2 creatively underperformed with some audiences, Favreau maintains a sense of humor about both career highs and lows. When reminded of his critical and commercial flop Cowboys & Aliens (2011), he quips, “Ope, we’re out of time.” He maintains that working with actors like Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, in addition to lauded executive producers Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard was worth it. Says Favreau, “I still think the Western represents a high watermark of mythic storytelling in American cinema.”
