Actor/ Director Jon Favreau Talks Iron Man 2 Success With Kevin & Bean

Iron Man 2 opened this past weekend to huge numbers. $133.6 million to be exact. Kevin & Bean were fortunate enough to catch up with the visionary behind this summer’s blockbuster, Jon Favreau. He spoke about the whirlwind opening weekend and what’s in store for the devilishly handsome Tony Stark.

To read an excerpt or to hear the complete interview click more.

Jon Favreau: How you guys doing?
 
Ralph: Not as good as you.
 
Bean: Ya, ya, you are the happiest little girl in the whole USA today aren’t you Jon?

Favreau: I am very, you know what I am happiest about, that I don’t get to think about it. I have to go right into work and I don’t have to think about it. That’s the true blessing.
 
Ralph: What !?!
 
Lisa: What are you working on?
 
Favreau: I am working on Cowboys and Aliens. I’m doing that with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. We are shooting this summer. So if you sit around and read everything and think about everything it will drive you nuts. I am very grateful that the fans showed up. I was happy to go out with Downey over the weekend and check out the theaters and it was really fun to see the audience’s response. But the biggest blessing is always just to be able to keep doing what you are doing. That’s what this weekend afforded me, and I am very very grateful.
 
Bean: I understand that’s the mature attitude, and I know why you would say that, but I would think as hard as you worked on Iron Man 2 for the last two years of your life to finally have it out there and be received so well, it seems like someone outta give you a vacation. Like there outta be some time off to enjoy it.
 
Favreau: One would think. But that’s when I tend to be the most miserable. I really like my job. I really do.
 
Bean: You always had a vision of a franchise when you started with Iron Man, I think. But after the first movie was so great, I mean, even you, did you have any doubts that you were going to be able to make another one that would satisfy the fans because the first one just hit it out of the park so far?
 
Favreau: Well, uh, first you know we had to get the band back together. That was the whole thing that took a lot of months to work all that out. That was an uncomfortable period because we were chomping at the bits to get started, uh, but once we pulled it together, we were just having so much fun coming up with all the different ideas of what we could do, that we had hoped that the fans would like and the audiences would receive it.  But uh, we didn’t know, but we definitely were pleasing ourselves every step of the way. 
 
Bean: With the huge box office, and this is Jon Favreau on the phone on the Kevin & Bean Show, talking about the $130 million plus that it made over the weekend just domestically, a lot of people are pointing out hey, imagine how much more it would have made if it had been in 3D. Was there ever any talk along the Iron Man 2 timeline that it might be a 3D movie?
 
Favreau: Yeah, you know, 3D takes a while. To do it right you really have to shoot in 3D. That was never an option because no one even talked about 3D until Avatar and then Alice and Wonderland and even Clash of the Titans started changing the business model. It would have meant  turning the movie over early and post converting which doesn’t look great and would have probably lead to an inferior film that we would have collected more money per ticket at the box office. So it wasn’t something I was comfortable with. It wasn’t very realistic. But I do like 3D a lot. But if I were to do 3D I would shoot in 3D.
 
Bean: Yeah that makes sense. But as a filmmaker though you are intrigued by, interested enough to think about doing a movie that way one day?
 
Favreau: Oh yeah, I have been testing the gear out because we are discussing whether or not we want to do it on the next film. I know Marvel is looking into it on their movie. but for me personally for Cowboys and Aliens we are looking at what the gear can hold up to because we are shooting out in the desert, which has never been done before with this type of gear. But I love watching movies that are done well in 3D; I think it is very captivating.
 
Ralph:  For those who don’t know, Cowboys and Aliens is also another great comic book property that Jon will be directing. Are you kinda the go to guy now for comic book movies for these big adventure films Jon? 
 
Favreau: I think,  um there is definitely an appetite for comics although I wouldn’t put it in the same category as Iron Man, because Iron man is something where the comic book is where people know it from. Cowboys and Aliens was something that the comic book was written after the script I believe. So it’s not the same type of property. But I think graphic novels are really a cool way to find new properties because they are so visual and it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see the potential in those stories.

Bean: I can’t imagine Iron Man without Robert Downey Jr.  As great as all the other elements are, including your participation Jon, it seems there has almost never been a character who has been better suited for an actor as this one is for him.

Favreau: Ya, I really think my biggest contribution was putting him in the role. I think that was a moment of profound vision that I have really been enjoying the benefits of and the fruits of for the past four years. And not just because of his talents, but he is a tremendously gracious guy and a great friend and we went through a big journey together because we both earned our stripes on this. He got my back a lot, I got his back a lot.  And we are both very proud of what we have been able to do.

To hear the entire interview listen here: