The L.A. Times’ Hero Complex blog had a live chat with “Iron Man,” director Jon Favreau.
Always the smart, personable and reasonable sounding guy, the filmmaker had a lot of interesting things to say about the impending super-hero sequel.
Most eye-opening is Favreau’s continued concern over the 2010 release date for “Iron Man 2.” While he doesn’t sound flummoxed or like the date is a dealbreaker, he does still have some worry and caveats.
“The date is daunting. We are making much faster progress than the first time around and have much less to design and fewer casting issues. I am confident that 2010 is achievable if we continue working together as we have for tha past few months. It has to be great, though. It has to be great.”
Favreau said we should also expect to see more Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury (“S.H.I.E.L.D. is important to the franchise, and what is S.H.I.E.L.D. without Fury?”), the second Iron Man model, War Machine (Terrance Howard’s character; “We need War Machine. Agreed. Shoulder cannons and all”) and the “Demon In A Bottle” story that surrounds Tony Stark’s alcoholism, (“That’s part of who he is. I don’t think we’ll ever do the ‘Leaving Las Vegas’ version, but it will be dealt with.”)
As for a unified Marvel Universe which will eventually culminate in “The Avengers” movie, Favreau said he really wasn’t in touch with “The Incredible Hulk” director Louis Leterrier and it would have been helpful had they talked.
“I had not been in touch really with [him] during ‘Hulk.’ I think it’s important for all filmmakers working for Marvel to collaborate so there is a consistency in the films, so yes they should keep in touch.”
Lastly, Favreau reminds us why “Iron Man” was a great, maybe one of the best comic book films ever. “I focus mostly on story and character. I put a great value on emotion, humor and natural dialogue. The effects are fun to explore in original ways, but without a strong story, they mean nothing.”
Amen, brother. There’s a reason we like this guy.