Favreau, Jon 1966- (John Favreau)

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FAVREAU, Jon 1966-
(John Favreau)

PERSONAL:

Born October 19, 1966, in Queens, NY; son of Charles (a special education teacher) and Madeleine (an elementary school teacher) Favreau; married Joya Tillem, November 24, 2000; children: Max. Education: Studied acting at Improv Olympic and Second City (Chicago, IL).

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Endeavor, 9701 Wilshire Blvd., 10th floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.; manager: Sweet Mud Group, 280 S. Beverly Dr., Suite 207, Beverly Hills, CA 90212; publicist: I/D PR, 3859 Cardiff Ave., 2nd floor, Culver City, CA 90232.

CAREER:

Actor in films, including (as Chicago taxi driver) Folks!, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1992; (as uncredited extra) Hoffa, 1992; (as D-Bob) Rudy, TriStar, 1993; (as Gutter) PCU (also known as PCU Pit Party), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1994; (under the name John Favreau; as Elmer Rice) Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (also known as Mrs. Parker and the Round Table), Fine Line, 1994; (as Assistant) Batman Forever (also known as Forever), Warner Bros., 1995; (as Zerkov) Notes from the Underground, Renegade Films, 1995; (as Straker) Just Your Luck (also known as Whiskey Down), PolyGram Video, 1996; (as Mike Peters; and producer, with others) Swingers, Miramax, 1996; (as Ezra Good) Dogtown, Stone Canyon Entertainment, 1997; (as Gus Partenza) Deep Impact, Paramount, 1998; (as Kyle Fisher) Very Bad Things, PolyGram, 1998; (as title role) Rocky Marciano, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1999; To the Moon, Paramount, 1999; Marshall of Revelation, 1999; (as Adam Levy) Love & Sex, Behaviour Entertainment, 2000; (as Daniel Bateman) The Replacements (also known as Scabs), Warner Bros., 2000; (as Bobby Ricigliano; and producer) Made, Summit Entertainment, 2001; (as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson) Daredevil, Twentieth Century Fox, 2003; (as John; and executive producer) The Big Empty, 2003; (as doctor) Elf, New Line Cinema, 2003; (as Leo) Something's Gotta Give, 2003; (as Ron Roth) Wimbledon, 2004; and (as himself) In Search of Ted Demme, in production. Appeared in videos, including Making It in Hollywood, 2002, and Beyond Hell's Kitchen: Making "Dare-devil," 2003.

Actor in television series, including (as Peter Becker, a recurring role) Friends, National Broadcasting Company, Inc. (NBC), 1996; (as voice of Jealousy) Hercules (animated; also known as Disney's Hercules), American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. (ABC) and syndicated, 1998; (as voice of Crumford Lorak, a recurring role) Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (animated), Disney Channel, 2000; and (as host) Dinner for Five, IFC, 2001. Actor in television movies, including (as Terry) Persons Unknown, Home Box Office (HBO), 1996; and (as title role) Rocky Marciano, Showtime, 1999. Actor in television pilots, including (as Alan) Meant for Each Other, Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS), 1995; (as Terry Bianculli) Desert Breeze, Fox, 1996. Appeared in television specials, including (as Paul Metsler) Grandpa's Funeral, Showtime, 1994; "Hot New Trends," The 1998 VH1 Fashion Awards, VH1, 1998; and (as himself) Daredevil: From the Comic to the Big Screen, 2003. Guest star on television series, including Seinfeld, (as Dr. Tim Carney) Chicago Hope, The Larry Sanders Show, (as Douglas Lund) Tracey Takes On …, Late Show with David Letterman, The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder, The Daily Show, Dilbert, (as himself) The Sopranos, The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, and Mad TV.

Director of films, including Made, 2001; Elf, New Line Cinema, 2003; and Date School, in production. Executive producer of the television series Dinner for Five, IFC, 2001. Director of television movies, including Life on Parole, 2002; and Bad Cop, Good Cop, Fox. Producer and director of the television pilot Hollywood Tales, Fox, 1997; executive producer and director of the television pilot Smog, UPN, 1999. Directed episodes of the television series Undeclared, Fox.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Named most promising actor, Chicago Film Critics Association, 1997, for Swingers.

WRITINGS:

SCREENPLAYS

Swingers, Miramax, 1996.

Hollywood Tales (television pilot), Fox, 1997.

To the Moon, Paramount, 1999.

Marshall of Revelation, 1999.

Smog (television movie), UPN, 1999.

Made, Summit Entertainment, 2001.

(With Gary Tieche) The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest based on the novel by Po Bronson) Twentieth Century-Fox, 2002.

Also wrote the screenplay for the television movie Bad Cop, Good Cop, Fox.

SIDELIGHTS:

When actor Jon Favreau first turned to writing screenplays, he never expected to make a career out of it. With his guy-next-door looks, Favreau was having trouble winning substantial film roles, so with his unwanted free time he wrote a screenplay with a starring role designed for himself and with supporting roles written for some friends who were also actors. Several producers liked the screenplay and offered large sums of money for it, but they all wanted to cast a bigger-name actor as the star. Finally, Favreau sold the screenplay to director Doug Liman for $1000 and a promise that Liman would cast Favreau and his friends.

That screenplay became Swingers, a modest hit and cult favorite. Favreau's character is a struggling actor and comedian who leaves his lover in New York and comes to Los Angeles to try to make it in show business. While waiting for his big break, he and his friends hang out, chase girls, and analyze their lives. Time reviewer Richard Corliss noted that the "multiple-buddy movie" has been done numerous times before, but Swingers "smartly … spiffs up a tired formula." Favreau's screenplay is "exuberantly witty," Owen Gleiberman declared in Entertainment Weekly, and the interplay between the shy, neurotic Favreau and his cocksure friend, played by Vince Vaughn, was widely praised.

Several years later, Favreau and Vaughn teamed up again in another Favreau-written buddy film, Made. The two play an odd-couple pairing, with Favreau as the quiet, honest one and Vaughn as an obnoxious loud-mouth. In this film, the two are small-time gangsters who feud constantly while trying to complete a job under the direction of a mobster played by Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. "These two have major chemistry with each other," wrote People's Leah Rozen.

In 2001, Favreau told Back Stage West interviewer Jamie Painter Young, "I was never going to get a part like I had in Swingers. … A movie like that wouldn't get made. But in making it, I created some opportunities as an actor. The irony is that in me attempting to showcase my ability as an actor, I ended up becoming a studio-approved writer. And the opportunities that have opened themselves up to me based on that were so much more interesting than the acting opportunities."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Newsmakers, Issue 3, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2002.

PERIODICALS

Back Stage West, October 17, 1996, Jamie Painter, interview with Favreau, pp. 6-7; July 12, 2001, Jamie Painter Young, interview with Favreau, p. 10.

Cosmopolitan, November, 1996, Guy Flatley, review of Swingers, p. 26.

Entertainment Weekly, November 1, 1996, Owen Gleiberman, review of Swingers, pp. 44-45; December 27, 1996; May 23, 1997, Eric Richter, review of Swingers, p. 68; June 1, 2001, Ann Limpert, interview with Favreau, p. 93; July 20, 2001, Owen Gleiberman, review of Made, p. 45.

Interview, June, 1998, Peter Berg, interview with Favreau, pp. 106-108.

Jet, July 16, 2001, Sylvia Flanagan, review of Made, p. 64.

Los Angeles Times, July 13, 2001, Kevin Thomas, review of Made, p. F6.

New York Times, October 18, 1996, Janet Maslin, review of Swingers, pp. B3, C3; May 30, 1997, review of Swingers, pp. B24, D18; May 13, 2001, Ariel Swartley, review of Made, p. MT24; July 13, 2001, Elvis Mitchell, review of Made, pp. B10, E12.

People, November 25, 1996, Dan Jewel, interview with Favreau, pp. 115-116; July 23, 2001, Leah Rozen, review of Made, p. 33.

Premiere, August, 2001, review of Made, p. 93; February, 2002, Howard Karren, review of Made, pp. 76-77.

Rolling Stone, August, 2001, Peter Travers, review of Made, p. 70.

Sight and Sound, July, 1997, Peter Matthews, review of Swingers, pp. 55-56.

Time, October 21, 1996, Richard Corliss, review of Swingers, p. 80.

US Weekly, September 4, 2000, Irene Zutell, interview with Favreau, pp. 88-90; July 23, 2001, Andrew Johnston, review of Made, p. 63.

Variety, September 9, 1996, Todd McCarthy, review of Swingers, p. 119; July 16, 2001, Joe Leydon, review of Made, p. 19.

Vogue, November, 1996, John Powers, review of Swingers, p. 160.