Jon Favreau followed the adage to "write what you know" and turned his experiences as an aspiring actor and L.A. clubgoer into the story for the charming low-budget comedy "Swingers" (1996), creating star-making roles for himself and his friend Vince Vaughn.
Born and raised in Queens, NY, this son of schoolteachers dropped out of college and traveled throughout the US, landing in Chicago. There, the then-heavyset Favreau became inspired to pursue acting after seeing Chris Farley perform with the Second City. After honing his craft in dinner theater productions like "Twelve Angry Men" and studying under Del Close at the Improv Olympics, he landed his first screen role as a cab driver in the unsuccessful Tom Selleck vehicle "Folks!" (1992). Favreau had his first success when cast as the shy, overweight friend of Sean Astin's aspiring football player "Rudy" (1993) in David Anspaugh's biopic. Finding good follow-up roles, however, proved elusive. Favreau made guest appearances on TV series like "Seinfeld" and "Chicago Hope" and landed big screen berths in Hart Bochner's "PCU" as a genial but dumb party guy and Alan Rudolph's "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle" (both 1994), barely registering as Elmer Rice.
Favreau began lifting weights, dropped 75 pounds and spent his time amid the young Hollywood hopefuls in the "cocktail nation" of the L.A. club scene. He continued to land small roles in films like "Batman Forever" and "Notes From the Underground" (both 1995). Favreau's father had given him a screenwriting software program and in two weeks the novice writer had turned out a script based on his friends and himself. "Swingers" attracted attention from producers who wanted to cast a name actor. Seeing it as a vehicle for himself and friend Vaughn, Favreau eventually sold the rights to director Doug Liman who cast the friends. Made on a shoestring budget, the film with its retro-jargon, homages to Tarantino and Scorsese and charismatic performances earned respectful reviews and became an arthouse hit. In demand as both an actor and writer, he filmed a role as a racist tormenting Mary Stuart Masterson in "Dogtown" (1997) and with Vaughn was developing an offbeat Western about an Hasidic gunslinger, "The Marshal of Revelation", on which the pair hoped to collaborate as co-directors and co-stars. Favreau also had a recurring role as a millionaire software developer who romanced Courteney Cox's Monica on the hit NBC sitcom "Friends" in 1997.
Favreau's love of sports and solid frame helped land him leading roles in films such as HBO's 1999 biopic "Rocky Marciano" in which he played the legendary boxer, and the football scab comedy "The Replacements" (2000). He again demonstarted strong leading man charisma opposite the seemingly out-of-his-league Famke Janssen in the appealingly neurotic romantic comedy "Love and Sex" (2000), and he then reteamed with Janssen and his "Swingers" co-star and close friend Vaughn in the largely improvised mob comedy "Made" (2001), which Favreau wrote, directed and co-produced. Although not as zeitgeist-friendly or disarmingly sweet as "Swingers", the appealing but low-grossing film featured some genuinely hilarious banter between Favreau, Vaughn and co-stars Peter Falk, Sean Combs and Faizon Love. Favreau also developed two lucrative sidecareers: first as a script doctor polishing screenplays for various studios; second as voice-over performer on numerous animated series and specials.
Demonstating his personal appeal behind the camera as well as in front of it, Favreau recruited many of his on-screen co-stars and cinema idols to appear on "Dinner For Five" (2001- ), a television series he produced and hosted for the Independent Film Channel. In each episode, Favreau would sit down at a different well-known Los Angeles-restaurant with four guests from the world of film and the quintet would spend their meal sharing and exchanging anecdotes from their lives and careers, providing a fascinating and entertaining look into the entertainment industry.
Favreau's next major role was opposite Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner in the comic book super hero film "Daredevil" (2003), in which he played Foggy Nelson, the stocky law partner (and comic foil) to Affleck's blind alter ego. The actor then made a welcome return behind the camera to helm the charming holiday comedy "Elf" (2003), which starred Will Ferrell as an oafish but innocent human raised by North Pole elves who discovers his true heritage. Favreau, an accomplished screenwriter and script doctor, breathed fresh life into a script that had long kicked around Hollywood, adapting the scenarios to best suit Ferrell's loopy comic outlook and sprinking holiday-related pop cultural references, icons and allusions throughout the film. In the process Favreau (who also cameos as a doctor) created what was sure to become not just a box office hit, but an enduring holiday classic. Then it was back to acting as a comedic foil, stealing all of his scenes as the ultimatle insensitive sports agent in the romantic comedy "Wimbledon" (2004).
For his next directorial effort, Favreau took on "Zathura" (2005), the "Jumanji"-like story of a space adventure board that comes to life, rocketing a home containing two squabbling brothers and their babysitting sister into orbit and into battle against the evil Zorgons. Favreau once again showed an assured, expert touch with all-ages material, respecting his audience's intelligence while delivering family friendly fare. His next directing project was expected to be in a similar vein: an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' pulp hero "John Carter of Mars" based on the first novel in the enduring series, A Princess of Mars.. Meanwhile, there were no shortage of acting roles: he co-starred with his buddy Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston in the comedy "The Break Up" (lensed 2005).
Copyright © Baseline 2007.