Jon Favreau Explains Exit From ‘Iron Man 3’

In the last 24 hours, geeks have been buzzing about Jon Favreau’s departure from Iron Man 3. The first big hint came from a tip sent to CBM:

““What happened is that on the first one they sort threw the script out and kind of improvised the whole thing and they stuck a landing,” says the source, a prolific member of the Hollywood community whose identity can’t be revealed, but who’s about as credible as they come. “They stuck the landing and it turned out to be a good movie. Then the attitude was, ‘Let’s do it again.’ The problem is that if you do it once, you’re lucky. Trying to do it twice, your odds of success aren’t that great. Robert Downey Jr. and the director, Jon Favreau, their friendship broke up over that whole mess of the second movie. Did you notice they didn’t do press together?”

Now, we have some actual words from Favreau himself on his exit from the armor. The first thing it seems is that he just didn’t have the passion for the franchise anymore. Then of course, there’s also a little project called the “Magic Kingdom”

“Between the theme parks and the movies, the Disney iconography was probably the first set of archetypes that I was exposed to,” Favreau said of his youth in Flushing, N.Y. “Walt was able to expose me as a child to the full array of emotions, including fear and sorrow. Those movies and attractions haunted my dreams and made a deep impression on me as a child. When I first heard about the [‘Magic Kingdom’ film] project, I was on my way to visit Disneyland with my family. I took notes and had no problem filling a book with all the ideas that this concept offered, even on first blush. Since then, I was lucky enough to be given a tour of Imagineering by Tony Baxter, who knows just about everything there is to know about Disneyland. He pulled original concept art from the archives for me and exposed me to Walt’s original vision.”

“Marvel and I both came of age together. The years that we shared were a pivotal experience. Kevin has a firm grasp on the many franchises and how they all interweave and I am happy that I had the opportunity to establish the world that these characters can now play in…. ‘Iron Man’ has given me tremendous opportunities and Kevin and I are enjoying a lot of momentum in our careers thanks to the ‘Iron Man’ films. I look forward to seeing what others can do playing in the same world.”

Source: Hero Complex