Favreau named 'Iron Man' Director

[DaForce]

From our own Cinescape:



http://www.cinescape.com/0/siteart/ico_searchnews.gifSEARCH NEWS BY DATE (http://www.cinescape.com/0/news.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=News&archival=yes) http://www.cinescape.com/0/siteart/ico_bookmark.gifBOOKMARK THIS ARTICLE (http://javascript<b></b>:window.external.AddFavorite(url,title);) | BACK (http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Movies&action=page&jump=back&obj_id=51107&cat_id=270338&sub_id=0) | NEXT (http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Movies&action=page&jump=next&obj_id=51107&cat_id=270338&sub_id=0)
http://www.cinescape.com/multimedia/Master_Site/Movies/Master_SiteArticle297607.jpg (http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Movies&action=page&type_id=&cat_id=270338&obj_id=51107#)
© New Line Cinema Director Jon Favreau on the set of ELF (2003). Movie News
Favreau to Helm IRON MAN
Dateline: Friday, April 28, 2006
By: NEWS EDITORBy: Source: Hollywood Reporter

Marvel Studios has hired Jon Favreau to develop and direct the big-screen adaptation of IRON MAN. He will oversee the script to be written by Arthur Marcum and Matt Holloway. The film was originally set up at New Line with Nick Cassavetes directing.


Linkage:
http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Movies&action=page&type_id=&cat_id=270338&obj_id=51107



All I can say is, F*CK YEAH!!!


Favreau actually knows how to direct AND write.

[DaForce]

http://www.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=1488


http://www.ifmagazine.com/graphics/news/ironman.jpg (http://ifmagazine.com/igallery/viewphoto.asp?i=ironman.jpg&f=news)
IRON MAN
(c) 2006 Marvel Comics Exclusive Interview: DIRECTOR JON FAVREAU TELLS THE SECRETS OF HIS IRON MAN
The ZATHURA director talks to iF about plots, armors, and yes even villains
By: SEAN ELLIOTT
Associate Editor Published: 5/3/2006
Send this feature to a friend. (http://www.ifmagazine.com/scripts/sendtofriend-form.asp?URL=http://iFMagazine.com/feature.asp?article=1488)
At the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles there were many stars, directors and celebrities working the runway. Among them was director John Favreau [ZATHURA] who stopped to talk to iF MAGAZINE about his latest directorial assignment IRON MAN.



IRON MAN is Marvel Comics first directly produced comic book property and tells the story of brilliant inventor Tony Stark, who creates his first suit of armor to escape a Vietnam prison camp, and to keep his damaged heart beating. Favreau wants to stick close to the classic Iron Man origins and feels a need to be true to the character fans love.



iF MAGAZINE: What can you tell us about the version of IRON MAN you are bringing to the screen?



JON FAVREAU: The fun part is you get to do the origin story. The origin was conceived in the early 60’s, and there wasn’t the same sort of attention to detail as there is now. It’s a Vietnam Era superhero, and it was complicated times then politically. We find ourselves in difficult times again, so you update it and set it in present day. A fun part of it is that you get to have different incarnations of the suit. In the origin you have the suit he makes in captivity, and then you get to refine it not just in this film, but in future films the possibilities are endless.



I think you want to keep part of the charm just as a film fan; I want to capture something like I felt when I saw ROBOCOP when I was younger. There was a certain gravity to the character that I liked. You never really get a sense of Iron Man's movement when you look at the books. I think it’s good to look at films like ROBOCOP and see what worked about those films. Of course you want to keep all of the complexities of the character; to me it’s a very appealing character. Later on the books even dealt with alcoholism, but I think certainly the complexity of the character is about a guy whose life is always hanging in the balance due to an injury. There are the relationships that he has with women, with the government, and with supporting characters. You are never going to have complete reality in a super hero movie, but he’s not someone who was hit over the head and became a superhero. He’s somebody through technology and his intellect creates this super persona. It makes it easier to set the film in the real world. There’s a whole geopolitical aspect to film that it’s going to be a tightrope to walk. You want to make it specific enough for our times, but not so specific that it isn’t a comic book movie. I think it’s the most true to life comic book certainly in the Marvel Universe.



iF: Are you going to use the ULTIMATE IRON MAN material at all?



FAVREAU: I think we’re going to stick closer to the original IRON MAN. The ULTIMATE IRON MAN has a certain appeal to it and the writing is very strong, but I think there are so many ways to go with Iron Man that you have to decide what to stick with. I don’t think we want to emulate the innocence of the early books, but I do think you want to deal with a character that comes to be Iron Man in that way.



iF: Any particular villains you’d like to use in the movie?



FAVREAU: I think the technology-based villains lend themselves better to the universe that we’re dealing with. Not necessarily the types that are magical or imbued with God-given abilities and mutations. I’d rather go with people grounded in reality and see how far you can push that with out losing the realism that this franchise offers.



iF: How much of the comic book history have you read?



FAVREAU: I’m reading all of the comics. I haven’t gotten into CIVIL WAR, but I’m taking it one hunk at a time. I’m reading all of the old TALES OF SUSPENSE stuff is really interesting. There are a million threads to go down. It’s been around so long and been reinvented so many times, it’s almost like they are mutually exclusive elements. I just want to look at Silver Age books, involving the old gray suit and the gold suit. Then the stuff I read when I was younger. I was an AVENGERS fan when I was younger. I’m sort of aware of him; through of course the wonderful animated series that was around when I was a kid and that had the great theme song. There’s a lot of homework to do. You don’t have to adapt to the letter, but if you aren’t aware of the history of the character when you make decisions as a director I think it’s shortsighted. There is a base of fans that is incredibly invested in what the character ahs to offer, and to not take that into consideration would be irresponsible for me. I was hired by Marvel after all; it was a property that was optioned by a studio. This is Marvel’s first movie that they are showing their fans how they would do it if they could. Now they have all the marbles and it’s their deal and I want to make sure I satisfy them and their fan base, as well as Paramount who will be distributing the film, and the people who know nothing about IRON MAN and just want to see it. I think there is a way to thread that needle and I am looking forward to doing it, and I certainly have a tremendous amount of support from the people that hired me to do it.





Supposedly, Favreau has set up a blog on MySpace specifically for the movie. I'll find the info again and post it if anyone's interested.

[DaForce]

Release date is set to May 2, 2008.

[KingVoyeur]

Highly optimistic. Only recently started reading this comic (starting with the Execute Program storyline), but I've been reading up and this could be a great character study about a seriously flawed hero. Just so long as the design is sleek and fluid and not some clunky suit. Can't wait!

[DaForce]

The first suit is going to be the big iron suit, from what I've read. That's the whole genius behind Tony Stark, he's always inventing. We'll probably see 2 or 3 suits in the first film.

[DaForce]

The first suit is going to be the big iron suit, from what I've read. That's the whole genius behind Tony Stark, he's always inventing. We'll probably see 2 or 3 suits in the first film.


Forgot to respond to this after Comic Con, but Favreau did confirm that there will be 4 suits in the first movie. The big gray suit, the yellow suit, the redsuit, and war machine. :jump2:


Oh, also of some minor note:

Iron Man casting? Aug. 1, 2006 http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gifhttp://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif Source: Ain't It Cool News (http://www.aintitcool.com/) by: Mike Sampson (mikesampson@joblo.com) http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gifhttp://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif http://www.joblo.com/tmp_img/spacer.gif http://www.joblo.com/newsimages1/ironman.jpgIRON MAN may not be ready to start filming for a while yet (it isn't set for release until 2008 after all) but that doesn't mean casting can't be underway. And since we had so much fun with Heath Ledger (http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=12321#) as Joker yesterday, why not talk some more superhero casting! Ain't It Cool News is reporting that HUSTLE & FLOW star and Best Actor nominee Terrence Howard (http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=12321#) has been offered a role in IRON MAN. Before you start pulling that race card, it's not as Tony Stark (though I'm of the opinion he'd make a great Stark). Favreau apparently wants Howard to star as James Rhodes, aka War Machine. Rhodes is one of Stark's best friends and confidantes in the comic book who later took over as Iron Man when Stark's alcoholism threatened his life. Stark eventually created a new version of the Iron Man suit that was more heavily armored and Rhodes started a separate superhero career as War Machine. It's unclear whether Howard, should he accept the part, would star as Rhodes AND War Machine or simply as Iron Man's pal. To read the original AICN report, click here to check it out (http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=24037).





The news is from AICN, so frankly I look at it as high rumor material.





.

[Al-Dog]

I’m kind of looking forward to this one. I wasn’t a big Iron Man fan back in the day, but I think this can work. With terrorism, war and political unrest, this could be an opportunity to make it more than just a “comic book” movie.

Pierce Brosnan as Tony Stark (sorry I couldn’t resist).

[Ronnie]

The news is from AICN, so frankly I look at it as high rumor material.

I'm not a big fan of AICN either, but apparently Favreau is. If your a Favreau fan, you may recall Jon did a couple of college screenings of Made to get word of mouth out there and one of his first ones was at the Alamo Draft House and was hosted/sponsored by AICN. So there may be some truth to it...

[jayce78]

I'm a huge Iron man fan , kinda lost my steam for the comics after 8th grade but glad they got a solid director & it's finally moving foward . . .


All they need now is an actor:lol:

[DaForce]

Looks like Gwenth Paltrow has signed on (http://www.joblo.com/paltrow-in-iron-man) to be Pepper Potts. Tony Stark's secretary and love interest.