While Marvel scrambles to lock down Robert Downey Jr. for THE AVENGERS 2, the actor will be taking a detour to co-star in Jon Favreau's latest pic, CHEF, which is an indie comedy starring Favreau, Sofia Vergara, John Leguizamo, and Bobby Cannivale. While Favreau has been the big-budget go-to guy for a while now, directing both IRON MAN, IRON MAN 2, and COWBOYS AND ALIENS, the jack-of-all-trades originally got his filmmaking start with writing and acting in Doug Liman's indie hit SWINGERS, which he followed with his directorial debut, MADE, another low key project with Vince Vaughn (and underrated at that).
Favreau is directing the pic, based on his original script and stars as "a man who loses his chef job and starts up a food truck to reclaim his artistic promise and reclaiming his estranged family."
Not much else is known about the pic, but Favreau seems to think it's ripe for exploration, saying:
“Setting a film in the culinary world of Los Angeles offers wonderful opportunities for a character driven comedy.
Kind of makes me think of THE SLAMMIN' SALMON a bit, but there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's great that Favreau has nabbed Downey Jr. for a role as they've both played well together in the past. It'll be nice to see them both take a step back and play to something in the indie market and I'm sure they both feel the same.
CHEF begins filming in July with a release date to be determined.
In related news, here is Sofia Vergara eating an ice cream cone…