"Chef" movie's release date is today, May 9, 2014! Director Jon Favreau talked to New York Magazine about working with Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Sofia Vergara. The actor/director also talked about how he thinks Louis CK and Lena Dunham are fearless.
"Chef" movie director Favreau talked about working with big stars like Robert Downey Jr and Scarlett Johansson in his film, which is out on limited release today.
"I think because there are so many people that you're familiar with, it's not like it's a bunch of unknowns and on the screen pops Robert [Downey Jr.]," says Favreau to New York Magazine. "Even John Leguizamo, most people really have a solid sense of who he is from his body of work. I'm probably one of the least recognizable people in the movie, and I'm still pretty recognizable. As long as it's balanced out, it doesn't feel overloaded in one area. Also, even though Robert and Scarlett are big movie stars now, these people have also popped up in smaller films over the course of their career. So I don't sense that it's distracting, but of course I could be wrong. They certainly class up the joint."
The "Iron Man" director was also flattered to be called an "actor's director." He said, "If you cast the movie properly, you can give [actors] a lot of freedom. There's a tendency in Hollywood to cast for political reasons because they figure you can get whatever performance you need to get out of those people by directing them toward it. I'm more of the mind that you should fight like hell to cast the people that you want to cast. And then you can be completely trusting and laissez-faire in your directing style if you have the proper cast."
Lastly, he talked about how he thinks Lena Dunham, Larry David, and Louis CK are "fearless" to use their own lives in their work.
"It's a very honest expression - regardless of whether Larry David or Lena Dunham or Louis C.K. are playing accurate depictions of themselves - because I think people assume they're watching a documentary. But I know Louis pretty well, and I know Larry, and they're quite different from those characters. I don't know Lena, really. But by all accounts they're using their life and image as a springboard into these crazy stories. And that takes a tremendous amount of fearlessness."
