Hey, guys. Quint here again with a little update. My buddy Geoff Boucher at the Hero Complex blog over LA Times way has confirmed with Favreau that he's passing on Iron Man 3. Favreau is fairly political in the article, claiming the decision is all creative on his part, that he wanted to pursue something he was fired up about, and not due to conflicts with Marvel Studios. So, looks to be official.
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. There's been speculation for a while the level of involvement Jon Favreau would have in a further Iron Man sequel. The dude's in demand and has recently agreed to a big sweeping Disney family adventure film set in Disneyland itself (which, if done right, could be a ton of fun) on top of finishing off his duties with Cowboys And Aliens.
But, The Vulture says he's told Marvel head honchos he's not going to return to direct a further Iron Man film and that Marvel has begun quietly looking for a replacement.
Lots of speculation is floating around, but I do know that Marvel is very hands on (at times to their credit) and Favreau seems to be the type of guy that isn't going to want to tread water if he doesn't feel like he can bring something different to the screen.
Iron Man 2 was notoriously rushed to make a release date, with some reports suggesting a firm script wasn't even place when the cameras rolled. That's a tough way to make a movie, so it's possible Favreau got burned out by that process.
Whatever the reason, this comes as a blow to the franchise, which Favreau absolutely helped build from the ground up (remember, he's the one that forced Downey into the role of Tony Stark against the objections of the execs in charge). Who can come in at this point?
I know it's a little on the obvious side, but my immediate thought was Neill Blomkamp. If they wanted to be truly awesome, get Paul Verhoeven onboard and watch the brilliant insanity that comes out of that chaos!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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