After directing Iron Man 2, Jon Favreau set his sights elsewhere, but still stayed close to the Marvel Cinematic Universe by serving as an executive producer on The Avengers, Iron Man 3, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Now, with The Jungle Book proving to be a massive success, the filmmaker is making some room in his schedule to return to that world.
The filmmaker confirmed in a recent interview that despite not being involved with Captain America: Civil War, he’ll executive produce Joe and Anthony Russo’s Avengers: Infinity War.
“I’m going to be executive producing the Avengers films with the Russo brothers, which I’m very excited about. I talk to them about it all the time. I’ve worked both in front of and behind the camera with Marvel and I really love what they’re doing right now. It’s a really exciting time to be over there. I’ve seen a rough cut of Civil War and it’s fantastic. We’re constantly looking for things to do together. And now I’m freed up.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like Favreau has any plans to direct another Marvel movie in the near future, something which makes sense considering the fact that rumours point to him coming back for a sequel to The Jungle Book. Or is he? When asked what’s next for him, the director didn’t seem to want to commit to anything in particular right now.
“I’ve spent a big chunk of my career working on that already. All new titles are coming out now. I’m actually surprised I don’t feel that way about The Jungle Book already, but with Iron Man, I’d done two back to back. My time was completely monopolised for those years and I wanted allowed to explore other things. Part of the fun of having a successful movie is you get a lot of say on what your next project is. Sometimes you want to leave yourself open to other opportunities instead of another four or five years maybe working on that franchise.”
Despite him not directing a Marvel movie, the fact that Favreau is involved with Avengers: Infinity War is definitely good news, and The Russos could do a lot worse than turning to him for advice, especially considering the fact that the filmmaker is responsible for the first chapter in the MCU: 2008’s excellent Iron Man.
