Jon Favreau on ‘Iron Man 2’
First we had the success of Iron Man. Then we had Marvel’s plans for a sequel and additional movies.
Then things turned dicey, as director Jon Favreau said he hadn’t been contacted about the sequel, and the Marvel-issued timeline for the films was unrealistic.
Now comes unofficial word — adjust the size of your grain of salt depending on how much you trust Hollywood gossipist Nikki Finke — that Favreau has signed on for Iron Man 2, due out as early as 2010.
Finke explains all with a dollop of heavy snark on her Deadline Hollywood blog:
It’s not officially announced yet, but I’m told that Marvel Studios and Iron Man director Jon Favreau have reached a deal for him to helm the sequel, due out in 2010. (Robert Downey Jr had a sequel clause in his contract so he’s on board.) Marvel Studios boss David Maisel was quick to put out a "definitely" richer offer to Favreau, but not quick enough for Jon — who used the Internet and other media to rile up the movie’s many fans by spreading nonsense that Marvel was dragging its feet and then lowballing him. Granted Maisel is no day at the beach himself, but, seriously, could Favreau have been more of an asshole?
If it results in a movie any bit as good as Iron Man was, then Favreau can be as much of an asshole as he wants to be as far as I'm concerned. He's shown that if he's given the right toys to play with as a director, he can do marvelous things with them.
Nobody deserves to be as much of an asshole as they want.But people keep trying to push the envelope.