Favreau’s Back to the Indie World!

Jon Favreau at 47, has already had an incredible career as a screenwriter, and actor and a director. In 1996 he co-wrote and co-starred in the sleeper indie hit Swingers.  Since then, he’s been directing big box movies like Elf, Iron Man and Iron Man 2 and has had huge success. He’s also undoubtably familiar with making choices that relate to creativity, safety, compromise, quality of life and personal growth– all themes that arise in his new film, Chef.   He recently stopped by the SiriusXM studios to sit down with Ron Bennington on The Ron and Fez Show, to talk about those themes, and what its like to be working on a small film again.

Favreau told Bennington how Chef is different from films like Iron Man.  “It’s  a story”, Favreau explained, “about a broken guy who’s lost his way, and not a story about a guy who’s facing a villain who’s unfairly persecuting him.” The main character, played by Favreau, finds himself going back to his beginnings to find himself again.  And like his main character, Favreau is also returning to his beginnings, going back to some of the principles that helped him create his first film, Swingers:

I haven’t done a little one like this in awhile – where I wrote it, just from the heart. And the last time I did it, it was about when you start off. Like Swingers. It was about meeting a girl and starting in your career. Now it’s close to 20 years later and here I am. I’m in my 40s. I’m a dad. It’s about balancing things. It’s about balancing your career with your family. It’s about what’s important in your life. And it’s also about making sure you still have same commitment to what you’re doing and you haven’t lost your way.

Favreau said that he still loves working on the bigger films, but after working on blockbusters, he enjoyed the freedom that comes along with working on a smaller film. “You’re not part of a bigger orchestra,” he explained. “You’re doing a solo. And you figure out what kind of chops you have.”  But the dynamics of Hollywood have changed, he said, and middle budget movies about life are not getting greenlit often. “Hollywood is only comfortable making really really big movies they know people will come to the theater to see.  Franchises, action movies.” Favreau said that he loves working on those types of films, but also misses the days where you could go to a comedy and laugh. “I mean that’s how I started off, with movies like Swingers. That was about the struggles told through an interesting lens of what we’re all going through. I wanted to do that again.”

And that’s what he has achieved with Chef, which he says, is more about life than food. In fact, he said, “it could be about any creative field when you feel compromised.” But that doesn’t mean that the food isn’t integral to the film as well.    The food is symbolic and the concept of writing about a chef appealed to him. “You know, when you cook for somebody, you’re doing from the heart” he said. “They’re not just giving you food. They’re watching you eat. They’re connecting with you. They’re feeding in you in so many ways.”

And there is a third component to the storyline in Chef.  The film is also follows the relationship between Favreau’s character and his son, who he has a tough time connecting with.   Favreau shared  his interesting theory about how fathers and sons bond, which is a running theme throughout the film.

Mothers and sons, they bond through nurturing. But fathers and sons, it’s through apprenticeship. You hit a certain age when you’re sort of on the cusp of manhood and you need someone to indoctrinate you. And I based that part of the movie based very much on me being the kid from a divorce. And when the men start to let you in their world. They bust your balls and they put you to work. And I remember, scraping the bottom of my dad’s boat and clearing the weeds out of the backyard. But then, sitting down for a hero sandwich with him and my uncle. And there’s a satisfaction you get when you’re not being babied anymore, but it’s still tough. And the fathers aren’t always good at it either.

Themes like quality of life, being true to yourself, making tough decisions, and connecting with family run throughout, and then there’s also the food.  Visually stunning scenes of meats, fruits, vegetables and sauces provide the background to the story.    And it’s no accident that the food scenes feel so authentic, Favreau explained.

I think we nailed the food world and we really took great pains to get that accurately done – which the people that I spoke to in that world, they felt that Hollywood often gives them a short trip on it, so we went out of our way to present it. So if you like food and you’re into the world of chefs and food, we really went out of our way to get it right.

Chef opens Thursday May 9th and stars Favreau along with John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt, Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman and Sophia Vergara.  You can hear this interview in its entirety exclusively on SiriusXM and SiriusXM ONDemand.  The Ron and Fez Show airs weekdays from noon to 3pm eastern time on Raw Dog Comedy Hits SiriusXM 99.

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