When Jon Favreau made the first Iron Man film he did something incredible by taking the classic comic book character and turning it into a contemporary tale with top notch visuals and a tone that suited the genre.
Though when it came time to make the sequel, Marvel wasn’t prepared to reward his efforts with a payday commensurate with his accomplishments. Eventually the studio came to their senses and gave the director a more lucrative deal reportedly around $10 million, unfortunately Terrence Howard wasn’t so lucky and the contractual stand-off cost him the part of Rhodey.
Meeting Jon Favreau’s pay demands also meant he had to endure the studio meddling with the story to help launch their other characters. It was reported that both star and director were unhappy with the final product which caused strained relations between the two and some say made Robert Downey Jr. drop out of Favreau’s next flick Cowboys & Aliens.
Favreau reluctantly included the nods to other characters in the hopes he would make The Avengers follow-up which the studio led him to believe, as it turned out they weren’t willing to pay his large fee and now he will only serve as producer, with the job going to the more affordable Josh Whedon.
Amidst the gossip, Jon Favreau has announced that he will no longer be involved with Iron Man 3. Whilst he claims he’s still on good terms with the studio, a lot has changed at the Marvel camp who are busily developing their other tentpole films in the mold which Favreau helped create. With work currently underway on Captain America and Thor, relaunching their stable of characters is a number one priority.
Jon Favreau recently spoke with MTV about these issues:
With the discussion implying that Marvel is hellbent on making the next Iron Man a mash up of characters, it sound like they’re controlling too much of the process and whilst crafting a film is important, changing the movie on the go is recipe for disaster. Hollywood insiders theorize that the Studios pushed a confusing and overly packed vision for the third film to force Favreau to abandon the project as he would’ve likely commanded a $12 to $15 million payday, plus 15 percent of the gross.
Whatever the exact reasons for the change, Marvel has begun the process of finding a new director to replace Favreau, though star Downey Jr. has director approval in his contract, not to mention the pick of ‘go’ movies at his finger tips.
Whether Favreau’s departure was a money issue or Marvel’s ambitions to have the comic book characters crossover is not known for sure. As Favreau embarks upon his newest film for Disney entitled The Magic Kingdom, he recently said that he remains close to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige whom he’s bounced ideas off for the upcoming project. On departing the franchise he described it as more like ‘a graduation than a divorce’.
Marvel and I both came of age together… The years that we shared were a pivotal experience. Kevin has a firm grasp on the many franchises and how they all interweave and I am happy that I had the opportunity to establish the world that these characters can now play in…. ‘Iron Man’ has given me tremendous opportunities and Kevin and I are enjoying a lot of momentum in our careers thanks to the ‘Iron Man’ films. I look forward to seeing what others can do playing in the same world.
For the project Magic Kingdom, it’s about a family trapped in Disneyland and their magical encounters with all sorts of attractions and rides.
It’s great to be able to connect parents with children both emotionally and through humor. I look forward to exploring family entertainment once again and examining the specifics of our day-to-day lives against the backdrop of an extraordinary adventure.
Favreau is already at work developing the film and looking at original concept art from the archives for inspiration, though it sounds like a project decidedly different from his recent adrenaline charged flicks with little or no guns, but maybe just a few animatronic robots.
For now we can look forward to Jon Favreau’s upcoming Cowboys & Aliens which will probably be his last film for sometime with his new venture set to consume a few years.
As a filmmaker the reasons for this shift in direction as he described is to ‘find something that lights a fire‘ inside of him and by taking on a new project, it’s a lot easier to surprise audiences than with a film such as Iron Man that is loaded with expectations.
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