As well as directing office favourite Swingers, Jon Favreau's also directly responsible for kicking off the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Although Iron Man 2 was a bit of a let-down, there's no denying that the first Iron Man was everything we could have hoped for in a film about 'Ol Bullethead. It had warmth, humour, action and Academy Award-winner Jeff Bridges in a gigantic mechanised suit destroying cars.
Honestly, what more can you ask from a film? Since Iron Man 2's somewhat cold reception at the box-office and by critics, Jon Favreau departed the MCU and went off to direct the so-so Cowboys And Aliens and the brilliant-but-nobody-saw-it Chef. His latest venture, The Jungle Book, has been getting all kinds of praise from all corners and is on track to be one of the highlights of 2016.
Just last night, Favreau announced that he's coming back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit not directly behind the camera as a director, but as an executive producer on Avengers: Infinity War. "I talk to them about it all the time," said Favreau. "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."
Favreau's plate is filling up, however, as he's officially signed on to direct the sequel to Jungle Book and there's the matter of Magic Kingdom, a long-in-production film about theme parks - Disney ones, obviously - coming to life. That might sound like a daft idea and it could very well be, but if Jungle Book is anything to go by, it's clear he's got a pretty good idea of what he's doing.
As to what effect Favreau will have on Infinity War is anybody's guess. The directing duo that is the Russo Brothers have demonstrated that they're more than capable of working on a long-form story like Infinity War, so maybe Favreau's been brought on to help make sure the whole thing doesn't pull away from them - like in Iron Man 2.
Avengers: Infinity War is scheduled for an Irish release of April 27th, 2018.
Via Collider