Last night, as part of the Hero Complex film festival held by the Los Angeles Times, Jon Favreau was on hand for a special screening of Iron Man that also doubled as some sly promotion for his next film, July's Cowboys & Aliens. And thanks to some revelations from Favreau and a surprise appearance by Robert Downey Jr., both films managed to make headlines. First up there's the news that Favreau gave Hero Complex exclusively (naturally): Cowboys & Aliens, which opens in theaters on July 29, will hold its premiere a week earlier at San Diego Comic Con. Here's what Favreau had to say about the event, which is still in the works:
“The worldwide premiere of ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ will be at Comic-Con. And not only are we going to premiere it there, we’re going to find a way to include as many of the fans as possible. I feel like they’ve come out for me, they’ve supported me.”
Pair that with this apparent scoop from Latino Review's El Mayimbe: "A big studio took a look at the playing field of Petco Park & wants to do a big outdoor screening of an upcoming movie." Petco Park is directly adjacent to the convention center in San Diego, and I've long wondered why a studio didn't try to take advantage of the giant space and have a large outdoor, nighttime screening. Even a small movie like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World managed to complete pack a large downtown San Diego theater, so it's not hard to imagine that Cowboys & Aliens filling its own baseball stadium.
As for the Iron Man part of things, Slashfilm reported some of the highlights of the banter between Downey Jr. and Favreau, starting when Downey Jr. cracked that "The most difficult part of making Iron Man 3 is going to be negotiating Jon Favreau’s acting deal." Favreau, of course, walked away from the chance to direct Iron Man 3 after many reported difficulties in making Iron Man 2. In the conversation, though, Favreau threw his full support behind Shane Black, who will take over as the director on Iron Man 3, and Downey Jr. explained how Black came in to help them on a previous film, presumably Iron Man 2:
Well Shane, interestingly enough, there was a point when Jon and I were stuck on an idea [with a previous film]. We were just in an exploratory phase. So I said, ‘We should talk to Shane.’ And I was like, ‘Shane, we can’t really pay.’ And he was like, ‘Bring me some salmon and some blueberries.’ And we went to Yoda’s house in Miracle Mile and it wound up coming in handy, particularly for a couple scenes. So what I can say about this kind of circle of life thing is Shane, as he’s getting into the process [to direct Iron Man 3] and getting his sea legs and stuff, he goes, ‘When can we talk to Jon?’ So there’s going to be this kind of conglomerate of efforts.
Downey Jr. also had some praise for The Avengers, a project he's currently shooting, and one he apparently was a little skeptical about at first:
"We’re about six weeks in and I have to say Joss Whedon is nailing it. He’s so smart and so good. And it’s gonna be great. I can’t believe I just said it, I never could’ve believed this but it’s gonna be great."
Downey Jr. and Favreau will surely be reunited again at Comic Con if not sooner-- Favreau will be there with Cowboys, of course, while Downey Jr. will inevitably wind up there with the full Avengers crew, wooing the Hall H crowd as he does every year. We'll be on hand in San Diego once again to record each moment, so join us in about six weeks when the madness begins.
