Jon Favreau is back in the director’s chair this week with his new project Cowboys & Aliens - his first movie since he helmed Iron Man 2.
In a career that has spanned almost twenty years Favreau has found success as a director, screenwriter as well as an actor.
Favreau kicked off his career in 1992 and it was in font of the cameras as he appeared in Hoffa before going on to star in Rudy a year later.
Throughout the nineties it was all about acting as he had roles in the likes of Swingers, which he also wrote, Deep Impact and the Replacements.
But in 2000 he moved behind the camera as he made his feature length directorial debut with Made, which starred Vince Vaughn and Peter Falk.
The movie was met well by the critics, but the movie was only given a limited release in the U.S., but it marked the arrival of Favreau as a filmmaker.
But it wouldn’t be until 2003 when he would return back behind the camera - for what is not the much loved comedy Christmas movie Elf.
After inadvertently wreaking havoc on the elf community due to his ungainly size, a man raised as an elf at the North Pole is sent to the U.S. in search of his true identity.
The movie was a smash as it was met well by audiences and critics alike and went on to take $220 million worldwide, Favreau’s biggest directing success.
He was to take another break, this time of two years, as he returned to acting with roles in Something’s Gotta Give, Daredevil and Wimbledon.
Zathura marked his return to directing in 2005 - a fantasy movie that was loosely based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg.
Sadly the movie was a bit of a flop at the box office as it failed to recoup its $65 million budget.
But it was the 2008 movie Iron Man that really cemented him as a filmmaker as he took on the big budget blockbuster for the very first time.
Robert Downey Jr, Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow were all on the cast list of the latest Marvel movie and it proved to be one of the movies of summer 2008.
Iron Man is smart funny and exciting as well as stylish, without going over the top. This film may be glossy and slick on the surface but it has a very human core.
The movie was met very well by the critics and it was a huge success at the box office as it took in excess of $585 million.
In the time between Iron Man and the sequel Favreau once again went back in front of the camera with movies Four Christmases and Couples Retreat.
An Iron Man sequel was a certainty and it hit the big screen last summer with Robert Downey Jr returning to the role of Tony Stark.
While the movie, in my opinion, was not as good as the original it out performed it’s predecessor at the box office when it took over $622 million.
This week he is back with Cowboys & Aliens, which brings together a cast that includes Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde.
A spaceship arrives in Arizona, 1873, to take over the Earth, starting with the Wild West region. A posse of cowboys and natives are all that stand in their way.
The movie has already topped the box office in the U.S. - coming though a tough weekend battle with The Smurfs.
Cowboys & Aliens is released 19th August.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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