Jon Favreau is one of the most versatile and famous directors in Hollywood. However, his early days in the industry were quite far from the director’s role: he started as a stand-up comedian and, later on, took some small roles in films. His debut as an actor came with Rudy, a film in which he worked alongside Vince Vaughn, and later played a few more parts in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle and Batman Forever. In 2003, he decided to take the leap and get behind the camera to direct Elf, his first feature film. From then on, his career has been on a steady rise.
The actor-turned-director also writes, produces and, many times, stars in his films, or at least appears playing minor parts in them. We have seen Favreau starring in The Wolf of Wall Street, Identity Thief and People Like Us, among other productions. Nonetheless, his greatest achievement so far was to lay the foundations of something unprecedented in cinema: the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a multi-million dollar franchise centered on a series of films where superheroes coexist throughout different movies. With Iron Man’s debut in 2008, Favreau kicked off this new universe with a successful and acclaimed production starring Robert Downey Jr., which earned him numerous recognitions and Disney and Marvel’s trust to continue working on subsequent films. In fact, he cemented his place as executive producer of the The Avengers movies, and indulged in the role of Happy Hogan, Tony Stark’s assistant, in a number of them. Truth is, the MCU’s success is due largely to his creative ideas and great talent. And not only did he contribute to the MCU, but also to another well-known cinematic universe: he wrote and produced the first Star Wars series for Disney+ The Mandalorian. This production’s success laid the groundwork for the series that followed and those that will continue to emerge. In fact, a spin-off series, The Book of Boba Fett, also written by Favreau, was released in December 2021. Who would have imagined that the man who played Monica Geller’s billionaire pretender in Friends’ third season would become such a Hollywood star? Let’s remember some of his best productions as a director.
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6 Made
Made is a 2001 American comedy film directed by and starring Jon Favreau alongside his longtime friend Vince Vaughn. Rounding out the cast are Peter Falk, Sean Combs, Famke Janssen and Faizon Love. This film was Favreau’s directorial debut and follows the story of two wannabe boxers and lifelong friends who become involved in a plot in which mob money is at stake. This film was considered by audiences to be a sequel to Swingers, due to the return of the Favreau-Vaughn duo as leads, and Favreau’s participation as a writer. Even though it did not have the same reception as Swingers, Made still had very good reviews.
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5 Zathura: A Space Adventure
During one of their regular fights, brothers Danny (Jonah Bobo) and Walter (Josh Hutcherson) end up in the old basement of their house. There they find an ancient board game with a strange inscription: Zathura. Danny tries to convince Walter to play the game together, but upon his flat refusal, Danny decides to play it by himself. Nevertheless, at the very moment when he rolls the dice for the first time, he discovers that this is not just a simple board game, but something else. To his surprise, a piece moves by itself and in a matter of milliseconds and inexplicably, his house is transported to outer space. Soon, both siblings realize that the only way to get everything back to normal is to finish playing this enigmatic game. The problem is that every move brings new dangers, and the challenges this game has in store for them are far from easy to complete. If they want to return safe and sound, they will have to leave their rivalry aside and work as a team.
Zathura: A Space Adventure is a 2005 science fiction adventure film. It is inspired by Chris Van Allsburg’s children’s book of the same name and is considered an independent spin-off of the mythical movie Jumanji.
4 Elf
Elf is a Christmas comedy starring Will Ferrell, James Caan and Zooey Deschanel. With this film, Jon Favreau proved to the audience his versatility as a director. Elf follows the story of Buddy, an orphaned baby who stowed away in Santa’s sack to the North Pole. There he grew up in the company of the elves, but, as time went by, he grew bigger and bigger, and his physical differences became undeniable. It is then that, after discovering the truth about his origins, Buddy asks Santa for permission to travel to New York and look for his real father: Walter Hobbs. This man has been on Santa’s blacklist for years for being a very bad person, and has no idea of his son’s existence. Once in New York, Buddy experiences the joys of human life as only an elf could, and discovers that humans seem to have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. That is why, as the holiday approaches, he decides to take advantage of his knowledge of the elven world to win his family’ love and, moreover, save the Christmas spirit in both New York and the rest of the world. However, as his relationship with his father grows closer, Buddy begins to have second thoughts about his future and must make a tough decision: will he leave the North Pole to pursue a human life, or will he return home to resume his life as an elf?
3 Chef
Chef stars Jon Favreau alongside a cast of actors who are familiar from his films, such as Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Jr. and other well-known artists such as Dustin Hoffman, John Leguizamo and Sofia Vergara.
In this romantic comedy, we follow the story of chef Carl Casper (Favreau) who, after losing his job at a restaurant, decides to start from scratch by opening his own Cuban food truck business. In this project he is assisted by his ex-wife (Vergara), his friend (Leguizamo) and his son (Emjay Anthony). In this way, Casper tries to recover his creative potential in the kitchen and improve his professional situation at a time when he is no longer as prestigious as he once was. Along the way, Carl goes back to his roots and recovers his passion for cooking and his enthusiasm for life and love.
2 The Jungle Book
This new adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book was a new opportunity for Favreau to work together with Disney, and it combines action with photorealistic scenarios and computer-generated animals.It features the acting debut of young Neel Sethi as Mowgli, with Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken, Lupita Nyong’o and Giancarlo Esposito voicing the characters.
The Jungle Book follows the story of Mowgli, a boy raised by a family of wolves who eventually manages to face the dangers of the jungle on his own. However, with the arrival of the dangerous tiger Shere Khan, Mowgli is no longer welcome in the jungle, as this animal resents the wounds inflicted on him by man and is determined to eliminate the human race. Faced with this situation, Mowgli has no choice but to leave the only home he has known throughout his life and that is why he embarks on a risky and fascinating journey of self-discovery to return to his species, accompanied by the ever faithful Bagheera and the carefree and fun-loving Baloo the bear. On their way they encounter all kinds of adventures and dangers, as well as characters such as Kaa, a seductive snake with evil intentions, and the trickster King Louie.
1 Iron Man
With an outstanding audience and critical reception, Iron Man was the movie that catapulted Jon Favreau to worldwide success, earning the first place in this ranking. It is the film adaptation of the famous Marvel comic book created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963, and follows the story of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), owner of Stark Industries, arms dealer and acclaimed inventor, who is kidnapped in Afghanistan after a weapons demonstration for the U.S. Army. Forced by his captors to manufacture a fearsome weapon, he ends up secretly building a revolutionary high-tech armor which he uses to escape. Upon his return to America, Tony decides to embark on a new course with Stark Industries.Despite the resistance of Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), his right-hand man and the company’s chief executive, who has taken over the business in his absence, Tony spends day and night in his workshop, perfecting and polishing the armor he started in Afghanistan for superhuman strength and protection. With the help of his assistant Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) and James Rhodes (Terrance Howard), Tony uncovers a sinister plot with global ramifications, and suiting up in his imposing iron armor, he vows to protect the world and right its wrongs as his new alter ego: Iron Man.
