Jon Favreau On Cruise As Iron Man Rumor

Regular readers are well aware of my respect for Jon Favreau, which most recently stems from his very fans-on (that sounds sort of dirty) approach to directing Marvel's Iron Man. The geek fan base is an important part of the comic book movie revolution cinema is currently experiencing, and Fav has done a fantastic job of plugging himself in to said crowd, mostly via his very open and continually updated MySpace blog. In the wake of Comic Con, Iron Man has found itself beset by a recurrence of Tom Cruise rumors -- rumors which continue to greatly upset fandom in general, and yours truly in specific. But Cruise is guaranteed money despite the crazy, and this has to appeal to Marvel, a company which desperately needs the first of its solo produced films to succeed.

What does Fav have to say about it? On his blog (which I suggest you read for answers to several interesting questions) Fav recently addressed said rumor. His response to a scooper who claimed to overhear two execs saying Cruise had the Iron Man role "in the bag" was as follows: "If by 'in the bag' they mean drunk, I think they're referring to Mr. Gibson in Malibu. I've never even met Tom Cruise, though I do think he is a great actor. He doesn't seem to fit with what Marvel is looking for at this time, but you never know what will happen. The rumor is false as far as I know."

Ouch, a needless Mel Gibson non-sequiter burn. Of course, there is no reason Marvel would HAVE to tell Fav every move they make, but it is likely he'd have some idea of what was going on. I for one am encouraged to hear him denying these rumors. I'm firmly in the Tom Cruise to too short, too familiar, and too crazy to play Tony Stark Camp.