Jon Favreau on Edgar Wright Leaving ANT-MAN
Just in case you were wondering what Iron Man director Jon Favreau thinks about Edgar Wright and Marvel going their separate way on Ant-Man, here's what he had to say in an interview with Shortlist:
"Edgar’s a dear friend of mine – I was so looking forward to his version of Ant-Man. All Edgar’s films have been studio films, it’s not like he’s never made one before. I think he’s been used to a situation where he can have tremendous creative say around his story and casting, and Marvel has built an entire franchise around their style of telling stories. I know both parties well, and I respect his decision to see that he wasn’t going to be fulfilled in the process. That’s all I can really say."
Favreau is the man who played a very big role in launching the Marvel cinematic universe with Iron Man. Without what he created, who knows what we could have ended up with? I just think his opinion matters when it comes to what happens with this Marvel movie. When asked if Iron Man was a gamble for him and the studio he said:
"The model was the Fantastic Four films with Fox. You were expected to spend a certain amount of money that would make you a certain amount of money back as long as the effects are good. They wanted to figure out a way to get the movie to audiences for a price. I think by casting Iron Man the way we did, it classed the brand up. It allowed us to bring a certain humorous tone that had been lost from, say, the Bond franchise. With Daniel Craig, those movies gained a harder edge, meaning there was definitely room for a new humorous cad adventurer. That archetype had not been filled in a long time. Through Iron Man, Marvel found its tone and voice, but nothing was expected of it. And then the success came, and then there was pressure to continue that brand, and that’s where it becomes more challenging."
I think we're all happy Marvel found that success. The filmmaker has since moved on to make some other great movies like Chef, and he is currently prepping to shoot The Jungle Book for Disney. When asked if he would be taking inspiration from the original Rudyard Kipling story, or the sixties Disney film, this was his reply:
"Kipling is the basis, because he nailed the mythology – getting back to the ancient myths that we see everywhere – like in Star Wars. But the ’67 animated film has wonderful tone and characters that we can hopefully recombine with Kipling, so it has a Disney feel to it. It’s a great way to use technology to tell the story in a way that hasn’t been done before. We can use computer graphics to tell a story that will go around the world. You can give a personal flavor to something that’s big, as long as you don’t jeopardize people’s ability to make money from it."
If you haven't seen Chef yet, you really need to. The Jungle Book is set to be released on October 9th, 2015. I wonder if Favreau will ever come back to Marvel and direct another movie for them.