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 "Chef," a small-budget, independent comedy with a big-name
cast, including Iron Man veterans Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett
Johansson, made its premiere at the South by Southwest film
festival in Austin this weekend.
It will open nationwide in the United States on May 9.
For Favreau, "Chef" helped cleanse his palate after directing
the first two of the three Iron Man films, which have a combined
world box office of more than $1 billion. The movie also comes
ahead of what will likely be his next expensive project, an
adaptation of "The Jungle Book."
"If you are spending in excess of $100 million on something, you
better make sure that you make that money back," Favreau told
Reuters.
"When you are doing something for a fraction of that, the
smaller you make the movie, the smaller the risk, and the more
specific the audience can be."
His new movie is more of a personal story about a chef named
Carl Casper pushed out of his kitchen due social media gaffes
that spiral out of control and conflicts with the restaurant
owner, played by Dustin Hoffman.
At the heart of the film is the troubled relationship between
Casper and his son, who has been living with his mother after a
divorce.
"This movie deals with issues that coincide with the stage in
life where I am, specifically fatherhood and the prioritization
of family over career," Favreau said.
To keep costs down, the A-list actors were paid the bare minimum
and the special effects of his previous films have been traded
for close-ups of the knife work used in preparing food for the
kitchen.
Gratuitous shots of mouth-watering dishes take the place of
massive explosions.
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To get the feel of the movie right, Favreau enlisted the help of Roy
Choi, who rose to fame by starting up a food truck that served
Korean influenced tacos.
"Maybe the food truck does not have as much money as being a big
chef, but you never have to compromise your visions," Choi said.
Choi helped Favreau learn the tricks of the trade and said by the
end of the film, the star was cooking all the food for the scenes in
the movie.
Favreau said putting the script together for this movie brought back
memories of "Swingers," the 1996 comedy he wrote about unemployed
actors and a swing dance revival that helped propel him and co-star
Vince Vaughn to prominence.
"I have a lot of really, really good eight-page scripts and then you
forget what you are doing," he said.
On both films, Favreau kept going — plugging away for about two
weeks each and coming away with an entire story.
"The big movies have to appeal to everybody, young or old, male or
female, every market around the world to get their money back,"
Favreau said.
"But little ones like this you can make for you and an audience that
can connect with it more personally," he said.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; editing by
G Crosse)
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