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Filmmaker and all around cool cat Jon Favreau will be taking a break from shooting IRON MAN 2 next weekend to fly to Chicago to interview George Lucas at the Four Seasons Hotel and to present him with the Gene Siskel Film Center Visionary Award for Innovation in Filmmaking.
{sidebar id=1}Wow, really? Even now? Post-prequels?
"It is hard to drop everything when you're on a film this big," said Favreau. "But the Art Institute asked me to fly to Chicago for George. Nothing short of the death of a close relative would stop me from boarding that plane."
When asked about his films, "I'm a tone guy. My films are completely different, but hopefully if you know the same guy was involved, it's that playful tone. I rarely want you to be aware of the camera. The camera is not the character for me that it is for the Coen brothers or a David Fincher. I am not that kind of director. I like flexibility."
George Lucas hand-picked Favreau personally to interview him, he said, "Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound have had the good fortune of working with Jon [on the 'Iron Man' films]. I know firsthand that he is the type of filmmaker that crews here love to work with, because he always gives them the opportunity to break new ground."
What did Favreau have to say about Uncle George? "What I always loved is he lived through a period when films were nihilistic. The '70s could be subversive, and I love those films, but he brought a sincere storytelling to what may seem like throwaway popcorn movies, and that hit the bull's-eye for me."
Favreau said the playful, laid-back feeling he has become known for is achieved by focusing on the moments when planning falls apart: "That comes out of improv too. Flexibility is demanded. There is a certain recklessness you hope for, without losing sight of what you're doing. It's like when you hear a great guitar solo -- there's always a moment when the guitarist doesn't seem to know where he is going. But if you listen for that moment, and if you can capture it, that becomes what's exhilarating about the film.
See, the kind of films I make can be confining -- explosions happen when they happen, things take years. On 'Iron Man,' the studio expectations revolved around the action, and when it comes to big set pieces, it's definitely film by committee. But stuff in between -- characters, comedy, even casting -- you have tremendous freedom, because the studio is not as interested. And that's where I focus. With the first film, the thought was that the star would be the Iron Man suit anyway -- so it was very fulfilling when you start to realize that this suit is going to be upstaged by Robert Downey. And then that ends up defining the franchise."
He continued,
"One of the frustrations is we start backward -- the last thing you get right is the script, because so much is placed on the effects at the start. But again, that kind of forces you to think on your feet and react, to let a film emerge from a few set pieces. It really is Chicago improv; you cannot be precious. Acknowledge the reality of what you've got, don't stick to a plan that has long gone out the window. That's the key.
The ship has sailed, and your job, if you want it come off like a breeze, is to make sure everyone is focused on the same horizon."
Read Jon Favreau's entire interview about his interview with George Lucas over here.
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