Jon Favreau talks Edgar Wright leaving Ant-Man, Iron Man & The Jungle Book

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

In a recent interview with Shortlist, Jon Favreau shared his thoughts on Edgar Wright leaving ANT-MAN and says FOX's FANTASTIC FOUR was a model for his IRON MAN. The director also talked a bit about his upcoming THE JUNGLE BOOK adaptation for Disney.

Like many of us, Jon Favreau says he was very excited for Edgar Wright's ANT-MAN, but also understands the reasons why Wright left the Marvel film.

Edgar’s a dear friend of mine – I was so looking forward to his version of Ant-Man. All Edgar’s films have been studio films, it’s not like he’s never made one before. I think he’s been used to a situation where he can have tremendous creative say around his story and casting, and Marvel has built an entire franchise around their style of telling stories. I know both parties well, and I respect his decision to see that he wasn’t going to be fulfilled in the process. That’s all I can really say.

As lame as it is Edgar Wright won't be directing ANT-MAN, I do think it's probably for the best. I'd much rather see him move on to a different project than end up with a movie that doesn't feel like an Edgar Wright flick. But that's not a knock on Marvel. It was their sandbox he was playing in with ANT-MAN, and the two sides just didn't see eye-to-eye on a few things with the film.

Jon Favreau was also asked if he felt like IRON MAN was a gamble when he first started working on the film.

The model was the Fantastic Four films with Fox. You were expected to spend a certain amount of money that would make you a certain amount of money back as long as the effects are good. They wanted to figure out a way to get the movie to audiences for a price. I think by casting Iron Man the way we did, it classed the brand up. It allowed us to bring a certain humorous tone that had been lost from, say, the Bond franchise. With Daniel Craig, those movies gained a harder edge, meaning there was definitely room for a new humorous cad adventurer. That archetype had not been filled in a long time. Through Iron Man, Marvel found its tone and voice, but nothing was expected of it. And then the success came, and then there was pressure to continue that brand, and that’s where it becomes more challenging.

Favreau went on to talk about Disney's new live-action version of THE JUNGLE BOOK, which we just recently learned will feature Sir Ben Kingsley as the voice of Bagheera:

Kipling is the basis, because he nailed the mythology – getting back to the ancient myths that we see everywhere – like in Star Wars. But the ’67 animated film has wonderful tone and characters that we can hopefully recombine with Kipling, so it has a Disney feel to it. It’s a great way to use technology to tell the story in a way that hasn’t been done before. We can use computer graphics to tell a story that will go around the world. You can give a personal flavour to something that’s big, as long as you don’t jeopardise people’s ability to make money from it.

Jon Favreau's CHEF is currently playing in select theaters, and his THE JUNGLE BOOK is scheduled to open on October 9, 2015.