Doing press for his supporting role in the anti-romantic comedy The Break-Up starring his buddy Vince Vaughn, Favreau answered a couple of Iron Man questions, although the big one - who will play Iron Man - wasn't among them.
The Status of Iron Man: “Iron Man, I was just brought on to direct that. It’s the first movie Marvel’s self-financing. It’s really been a wonderful experience working with them on the script. We’re going to start talking about actors soon when we get a script, but we’re set to come out in the summer of 08. We’re going to start shooting in January. It’s nice to be working on a movie that you can actually pronounce the name of. That’s a big plus I’ve learned, after looking at how well Zathura did. People keep coming up saying, even relatives, ‘I loved the Za-za-za, the Jumanji movie.’”
Before the announcement of Iron Man as Favreau’s next film, there had been reports he’d be helming John Carter of Mars in the near future. Now that he’s booked up with Iron Man, John Carter doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon.
“I really want to do John Carter of Mars,” admitted Favreau. “I was developing that thing for six months. Ultimately, I think the timing was bad at Paramount because as they said yes to J.J. Abrams doing the Star Trek stuff, they said no to the John Carter science fiction project. So I’m hoping that if this Iron Man goes well over there at Paramount, it might get them on a little more ambitious with the chances that they’re willing to take on material. If they believe in me and they want Iron Man 2, maybe they’ll do John Carter because it’s a project they’ve been trying to make. It’s been in development…it was literally a competing project with Snow White to be the first feature length animated movie, so it’s been a very long time with dozens of directors. But I really want to try to hang in there and get that thing done. We have a great script and great artwork.”
The Budget for Iron Man: Asked if Paramount placed a strict ceiling on the effects budget for Iron Man, Favreau responded, “I think the ceiling’s sort of emerge based on what they think that the movie’s going to earn. I think that working on a Marvel project like Iron Man, he’s sort of the biggest superhero left that hasn’t had a franchise yet. I think the success of X-Men and Spider-Man without really being star-driven pieces reassures them that the film does have an upside commercially. And what’s nice, too, is that those movies don’t require an expensive star to [sell] it. Iron Man’s the star, the superhero’s the star. I don't know that a movie like Daredevil did better for having Ben Affleck than Spider-Man did having Tobey Maguire who was a relative unknown at the time.
It gives you a little bit of latitude because there’s a lot of money that usually goes into getting that face on the poster. But I’m also of the generation of director, I sort of came up understanding special effects, so I don’t throw the same amount of money that some of the older generation directors who are just learning about it. There’s a way to be ‘scrappy’ is what I’m trying to say. There’s a way to get a lot for your money nowadays. There’s a lot of talented people in that field so I’m not really concerned about it.”
