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" I've cut myself out... I've cut scenes out that I was in and that's when you realize that you've got to make the best movie you can. "
Jon Favreau
Out
Myself
Got
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" I wanted to be a New York City firefighter. I didn't make it in, though. "
Jon Favreau
City
New York
New
" For something to be profitable doesn't necessarily mean it's the best thing in the world for the director. You judge a movie by different standards - I've worked on comedies, and now I've worked on superhero movies, and the reviews are almost parenthetical in both of those genres. "
Jon Favreau
Judge
Best
World
" I think what is nice about 'Elf,' and why it doesn't play as one long sketch, is that the character actually grows up during the course of the film. It's not just a character that you can keep checking in on and keep doing sketches about. It's a story. I'm pretty proud of how we told it. "
Jon Favreau
Nice
Proud
Story
" When Ron Howard does 'Rush,' he has to learn and steep himself in F1 culture and European racing culture, and that's part of the fun of the gig. You learn to learn. Your real skill as a director is being a learner and an observer. You're constantly learning another thing in context. "
Jon Favreau
You
Culture
Fun
" I cooked a little bit in my first movie; I did a movie called 'Made.' For the little kid in the movie, I do a scene where I'm preparing a pasta puttanesca. I always loved watching that scene. "
Jon Favreau
Pasta
Kid
Always
" You have to find something that you have to obsess over if you're making a movie about it. As a director, you have to be able to pick something that excites you enough that you can breathe it every day. "
Jon Favreau
Enough
Find
Over
" People think bigger movies are bad, and that's just not true - there's bad big films, and there's bad little ones. The bad big ones have to make their money back, so they'll push them down your throat, but the little ones just disappear if they're bad. "
Jon Favreau
True
Money
Movies
" Back to the painting of the Sistine Chapel, there's always been run-ins between benefactors and artists. "
Jon Favreau
Artists
Been
Back
" I'm a pretty early adopter of social media. There's a whole subculture to it. I'm smart enough not to tweet things out of emotion. "
Jon Favreau
Out
Social Media
Media
" Of course I danced a lot when I was making 'Swingers.' The swing music scene was big in Hollywood, and I went to places like The Derby. And, after I wrote it and was trying to get it made, I would go every week so I'd be good at dancing. "
Jon Favreau
Trying
Dancing
Go
" I think that anything that leads to creativity and good work is good. "
Jon Favreau
Good
Work
Think
" I think the bigger the movie is, the harder it is to maintain the idea of an auteur. You're servicing something beyond just your own vision. Whenever there's a lot of money on the line, it is your responsibility to make sure that you're doing your best to have people not lose their money and to actually win by betting on it. "
Jon Favreau
Best
Win
Vision
" I can't begin to tell you how fulfilling the perennial nature of 'Elf' on television has been for me. It's great to be able to connect parents with children both emotionally and through humor. "
Jon Favreau
Children
Parents
Nature
" I want to make sure everyone's having a good time because when I ask you to come to my movie, I'm throwing a party for you. I want you to enjoy it. "
Jon Favreau
Good
Having A Good Time
Enjoy
" I've been fascinated by the world ever since I read 'Kitchen Confidential' by Anthony Bourdain. I've watched 'Top Chef' and watched interviews with chefs on 'Charlie Rose'... I thought they're really intriguing characters, and they really encapsulate that tension between vision and commerce, art and commerce. "
Jon Favreau
Rose
Art
Chef
" There is nothing as fun as making a cultural splash with a movie. Sometimes the splash happens, like with 'Swingers,' where it sort of slowly ripples out, yet everybody could quote it. Or it could be something like 'Elf,' where you just make a big splash right off the bat when the movie comes out. "
Jon Favreau
Big
Right
Nothing
" Movies like 'Chef' are not really box-office monsters in the summertime and don't really fit into Hollywood's business model any longer. Even if 'Chef' is successful, it will be successful in the context of what it is. There's a limited upside to a film that's so small, but there's also limited exposure for the people who backed me. "
Jon Favreau
People
Me
Business
" Thankfully, I have a background as an actor, and you learn how to live in that world of not knowing what's going to happen next. "
Jon Favreau
Learn
Live
Not Knowing
" When I'm working with improv people, I give them the green light to just bring it and try things. "
Jon Favreau
Just
People
Green
" Scorsese's been a hero of mine since I was young. If you saw 'Swingers,' you know I was definitely fixated on his body of work. "
Jon Favreau
Body
Young
You
" I remember the first script I wrote after 'Swingers' was a Western, and I just couldn't get it made. "
Jon Favreau
Just
Get
First
" I've always wanted to call the shots because I would rather fail than not have a chance to figure it out on my own. "
Jon Favreau
Chance
Always
Fail
" When it comes to celebrities and tabloids, to me that is a bummer. That's a little disappointing. And it is amazing how things really get made. I always used to think that where there is smoke there is fire, and now I see stories pop up out of nowhere with no basis in reality. "
Jon Favreau
Amazing
Reality
Me
" 'Made' is about opening your heart to people who deserve your love and not trying to turn other people into something that they're not: not trying to save people who don't want to be saved. If you go down that dark path, you're not going to end up doing any good. "
Jon Favreau
End
People
Path
" There is no free lunch, so if you're playing with the big train set - on big movies - it's a lot of money they're entrusting you with, and you have to get that money back for them. I don't take that responsibility lightly. "
Jon Favreau
Free
Lunch
Money
" I'll basically eat anything that a chef puts in front of me. One of the reasons is respect for the chef. I watch chefs eat at other chefs' restaurants, and they're very aware not to leave anything over because the chef is watching very closely. It's a very sincere interaction when two chefs are cooking for one another. "
Jon Favreau
Chef
Eat
Cooking
" You have an hour and a half or two hours - maybe two and a half hours - in a movie, and it has to be a self-contained three-act structure. It's like a rock and roll song. Certain things have to happen for it to be a toe-tapper and get people excited, leaving the theater. "
Jon Favreau
Rock And Roll
Song
People
" For years, I was watching other people have so much fun playing out their version of authorship, like Louis C.K. and Larry David. As I watched them do their thing, I began to pine for the days when I had a lot less expected of me and, often, a lot more creative freedom. The courage that those guys have is always captivating to me. "
Jon Favreau
Fun
People
Freedom
" I've been in the service industry. I've bar-tended. I've waited tables, and I've worked at pizza places; I've made pizza. I've had a lot of jobs, and many of them were in the food service industry. "
Jon Favreau
Pizza
Service
Places
" The title's 'Cowboys & Aliens,' so you can get away with a lot if you chose to. You could make it the union of Cowboys Movies and Alien Movies and done whatever was convenient at any given moment. I think that's what most people would do, especially if you went broader and more comedic. Do whatever's the most fun in the moment. "
Jon Favreau
You
Think
Fun