If anyone needs to fix or begin their new cinematic franchise, Jon Favreau is the man to go to. The Jungle Book director was the one who laid the foundations for the MCU that fans love today with the Robert Downey Jr. starrer Iron Man. He also spearheaded Star Wars’ Disney+ series The Mandalorian.
However, the director is known for improvising on set and needed some fixing himself while figuring out the climax of Iron Man 2. Hence, he approached animation wiz and the creator of Primal Genndy Tartakovsky to help him streamline the messy climax for the sequel. Tartakovsky was reportedly responsible for the action-packed climax at the Japanese tea garden.
Jon Favreau Had A Tough Time Working On Iron Man 2
Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. laid the foundations of the MCU perfectly with the insanely successful Iron Man. It was the first independently produced film by Marvel Studios and the survival of the company and the MCU heavily depended on that first film working well at the box office. Favreau’s improvisational process ultimately led to a $585 million gross.
According to the book MCU: Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson, the studio heads Kevin Feige and David Maisel immediately greenlit the sequel and announced a release window of April 2010 even before striking a deal with Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. Favreau mentioned that he was apprehensive about the sequel as he had experience making popular films that fizzled out. He said,
“Fortunately, I’d had the experience of things connecting with audiences before, and I know how wonderful, but also disorienting. Everything changes a bit. It’s like the band that puts out a hit single: you go from playing in a garage to figuring out how you follow it up.”
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However, the director came on board and collaborated with writer and actor Justin Theroux to work on the screenplay for Iron Man 2. The script was reportedly not finished when the team went for shooting and Theroux had to work on the plot with such immense pressure that he was hospitalized for a while after his back gave out.
Favreau was reportedly exhausted during the process of the film due to the tight deadline Marvel had put him on. The director mentioned that the entire team was under a lot of stress and spent many sleepless nights finishing the film.
Jon Favreau Approached Genndy Tartakovsky For An Action Scene
Jon Favreau reportedly went into production of Iron Man 2 without a finished script. However, the director had locked in on the action scenes weeks before filming as it would give the visual effects team enough time to work on the VFX. He reportedly worked with Matthew Libatique to shoot motion capture footage using a virtual camera.
While most of the action scenes were planned to perfection, Favreau was still apprehensive about the climactic battle with Iron Man and War Machine against the Hammer Drones in a Japanese tea garden. He reportedly did not want the scene to be a messy, CGI-heavy climax (like the ones that are seen in the MCU now) and hence approached legendary animator Genndy Tartakovksy for guidance.
The animator was known for his work on Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Batman: The Animated Series. He was also the creator of the adult animated series Primal. He said,
“Jon was a fan, and he liked the sensibility that I had on Samurai. I know what I would want from this situation, so I just tried to give it to him—and he could use all of it or none of it.”
Tartakovsky was reportedly responsible for the 360-degree spinning Iron Man beat in the film, which was one of the better parts of the critically panned sequel.
