Jon Favreau
may be working on a mega-expensive, hotly-anticipated blockbuster of 2008 but as
he fielded the Q&A line at the
Iron Man panel, one
of his first questions came as a surprise: "What do you think of the state of
independent film today?"
"In some ways, it’s bleak," Favreau said. But in other
ways, he continued, there’s reason to be more hopeful than ever. Going through
the studios was never a necessary component in the equation, but with online
distribution and HD cameras no longer cost-prohibitive to even the lowliest of
retail slaves, Favreau was optimistic that, especially now, good films will find
their audience.
And as
Christopher
Nolan, Sam
Raimi, and
Peter Jackson have demonstrated, studios are interested in giving the
filmmakers who start small the keys to big franchises. Favreau, probably the
most pragmatic of the current crop of comic book filmmakers who began
independent, stressed that filmmakers have to learn character and dialogue in
their small films. Once they’re comfortable with that, character and dialogue
will likewise comfortably coexist with the explosions and action in superhero
movies.
Wasting no more time, Favreau jumped into three Iron Man
clips. With the quick cuts and edits of the trailers, Favreau wished to slow
things down, and show off the personality of movie.
The first clip showed Tony Stark (Robert
Downey Jr.) in his laboratory, testing out the jet boots. He sets them to
10% and is immediately launched into a wall. A wall extinguisher turns on and
sprays him. The second clip shows a more humble Stark, toning down the boots
propulsion power, and threatening to the extinguisher if it sprays him again,
he’ll donate it to the city college. Stark activates the boots and ecstatically
floats around the room, spraying lab papers all around.
The final clip had Stark attaching the Iron Man armor,
preparing to give it its first test flight. The shots switch between POV shots
and close-ups of Stark’s face as displays pop up and disappear in front of him
inside the suit. After arguing with his assistant, flies out of the building and
into the night, whooping and cheering over the city. Favreau also showed off a
new two-and-a-half-minute trailer to be shown with this Thursday’s Lost.
The trailer presented most of what was just seen in previous trailers and these
clips, along with more shots of the extinguisher (clearly a running joke in the
movie), Stark catching an Audi as it’s tossed towards him, and more of
Gwyneth
Paltrow as Virginia Potts. As it stands, Iron Man‘s tone seems to be
a snug fit between the comic overtones of Spider-Man and the grit of the
new Batman.
Favreau, unlike other directors who seem to jump into the
comic book movie realm because they’re hot lucrative properties, possesses a
genuine love for the characters and humility that’s rare for a Hollywood
director. After working for two years on this project, Favreau claimed to have
newfound respect for
Michael Bay.
While Favreau doesn’t want to overuse CGI, he stated it’s harder than it looks
to film nothing and use a computer to fill up the screen.
He also emphasized open and honest communication between
the moviemaker and the moviegoer. Specifically, Favreau stated that "the best
place to go is directly to the fans" and that it’s "important that filmmakers
maintain a dialogue with their audience." Though we hardly needed confirmation
of it, Favreau also mentioned that people would be surprised how much weight
studios place on online opinion and discourse.
Afterwards, Favreau went into detail about working with
Marvel, a company for which he has high praise for. On Marvel’s Avi Arad’s
encouragement to pull as much as they can from the books (which also so happens
to open opportunities to merchandise), Favreau ruminated on the possibility of
introducing more Iron Man armors for specific situations, though he’d stop short
with the awful underwater armor (the one with the bubble head and flippers).
Favreau also confirmed rumors that the studios are
interested in an Avengers movie. And assuming Iron Man makes
bucketloads of money, he’ll be interested in directing it. Afterwards, Favreau
shied away from revealing much more about Iron Man, playfully chastising
comic fans for being too good of detectives by piecing together Iron Man‘s
plot just from clips and trailers. Lastly, Favreau said he’d be interested in
exploring War Machine (Terrence
Howard) plotlines, along with the story of "Demon
in a Bottle." At the microphone, a fan suggested he look into "Iron
Man 2020." Personally, I’m somewhat open to that idea as it could possibly
lead to an appearance by
Death’s Head. Now that’d be interesting.
Click here for more images from WonderCon 2008!
