Jon Favreau may have stepped away from the camera on Iron Man 3 and left the directing duties to Shane Black, but it clearly wasn't because he didn't want to work with Iron Man himself. Variety reports that Robert Downey Jr. has joined the ensemble cast of Favreau's Chef, an indie comedy that's being sold at Cannes next week, and is set to start production in Los Angeles in July.
With a story very in-tune with food trends, Favreau will star as a chef who quits his job and starts a food truck to "reclaim his artistic promise." Sofia Vergara, John Leguizamo and Bobby Cannavale are also on board, but neither of them are remotely the huge stars that Downey Jr. is, and his participation basically ensures that the film will be able to sell to distributors at the Cannes market next week.
The big question, though is how big Downey Jr.'s role will be. The actor used to getting $50 million paydays is neck-deep in negotiations with Marvel over The Avengers 2, and he's got plenty else on his plate too, working to lure Ben Stiller to direct a Pinocchio movie and taking on the dramedy The Judge with Vera Farmiga, His role in Chef is probably a favor to an old friend-- Downey knows as well as anyone how much his name can help sell a film-- and though we might see some interesting work from him in his first indie since 2007, we probably shouldn't count on this being another Kiss Kiss Bang Bang-style game-changer.
(Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau image via s_bukley / Shutterstock.com)
