Jon Favreau hit the blockbuster big time with the Iron Man movies, but he’s downsized with his latest project, Chef. The director, writer and actor tells Susan Griffin why it’s such a joy to have complete creative control

AS director, producer, writer and star of Chef, Jon Favreau was able to hand-pick his cast. And what’s a man to do, but ask two of the world’s most gorgeous women, Scarlett Johansson and Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara, if they’d play the love interests of his character, Chef Carl Casper.

“By having such beautiful women involved, it shows what the chef culture has become, and what a fantasy it can be for people entering that field,” says Queens-born Favreau of the actresses who play his girlfriend and ex-wife respectively.

With black specs, tight curls and a ‘heavy’ build, Favreau, by his own admission, isn’t the type of man who’d usually physically attract such women – but that’s the point.

“I don’t know if it’s always been that way, but chefs are like rock stars, certainly in the States. They definitely punch above their weight and end up with women who are fixated on them because of how skilled they are in the kitchen,” adds the soft but fasttalking film-maker.

Following mammoth success helming the first two Iron Man movies, starring Robert Downey Jr (who makes a cameo in Chef), and being executive producer on Avengers Assemble and Iron Man 3, Favreau was keen to return to his indie roots and create a movie on a much smaller scale.

“I like working on the big studio movies, you certainly have a lot more tools in your toolbox to tell the story with computer effects, big crews and big budgets, but there’s a certain trade-off that you experience between creative control and the size of the production,”

explains the 47-year-old.

“So it’s nice – once in a while – to get back to something that might be more challenging logistically, but creatively, you have complete control over it. That’s refreshing, to be honest with you.”

Favreau began his film-making career nearly two decades ago, writing and starring with Vince Vaughn in the 1996 hipster comedy Swingers, after they met on the 1993 film Rudy. He made his directorial debut with the self-scripted Made, and then directed his first big studio project in 2003 two years later with the instant Christmas classic Elf, starring Will Ferrell.

He’s found it’s best not to watch the movie when hungry, as the mouth-watering scenes will be torturous. “Oh, a lot of people have been saying that to me,” Favreau notes, laughing.

The film follows Carl as he quits a prominent LA restaurant and teams up with his pal Martin (John Leguizamo) and his previously side-lined son Percy (Emjay Anthony) to launch a food truck.

“There are some similarities in being a filmmaker and being a chef. You have to balance out art and commerce, you have to figure out what you’re connecting to creatively – and you have to balance your career and your family life,” says Favreau.

As it is, he’s happily married to Joya, his wife of 13 years with whom he has three children; Max, 12, Madeleine, 11, and Brighton Rose, seven.

“I made the decision early on not to travel out of town when the family was on school [term] and to prioritise the personal aspect of my life.”

Something of a foodie (he hosted and produced a series on fine dining called Dinner For Five back in the early Noughties), it was a treat for Favreau to shadow Roy Choi before the cameras rolled. Having pioneered the concept of gourmet fast food by embracing social media (just as Carl learns the power of Twitter), Choi is hailed as king of the LA street food scene. Choi is one of many chefs he’s become friends with since making the film. “I go out to restaurants and they treat me like a chef. That means food comes out that you didn’t order, and as a chef ’s paying you respect, you must pay him the respect of eating the food,” he says, laughing. “Of course, it’s always amazing; I think that’s going to be worth a good 20lbs throughout my life. I’ve got to be careful.”

Having seen this passion project through from conception to conclusion, his thoughts are now focused on his next film, a live action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, which is due for release next year.

“Idris Elba’s going to be the voice of Shere Khan and we’re talking to Lupita Nyong’o and Scarlett Johansson as voices for some of the other animals,” he says.

It might mark a return to big-budget movies, but he hopes it’s not too long before he can revisit the indie scene once more. “Honestly, I haven’t written a script like Chef since Swingers, and that’s close to 20 years,” says Favreau. “But when a script hits me, it’s nice to know that I have the means to get it done.”

  • Chef is released in cinemas tomorrow