More than two months after the opening of Iron Man, it looks as if Marvel Studios finally has locked in director Jon Favreau for the sequel.
Although the studio set an April 2010 date for the sequel within days of Iron Man’s opening, it soon became clear that nobody had consulted Favreau. “They haven’t offered me anything yet,” the director told Howard Stern. “They’re all talking — they want to do it, they even announced a date.”
Favreau fueled further discussion a month later on his MySpace page, where he expressed doubts about the sequel’s timetable and a little frustration about the lack of communication from Marvel.
“It’s been five weeks since the one and only phone call my reps have gotten from Marvel,” he wrote. “I know their hands are full with the Hulk and I’m sure they will get into it shortly, as they tell me they intend to. I ran into the Marvel guys at the Hulk premiere and everyone sounded eager to get to work on IM2.”
Hollywood gossip columnist Nikki Finke, who broke the news of the deal, criticized Favreau for riling up “the movie’s many fans by spreading nonsense that Marvel was dragging its feet with an offer and then lowballing him.”
