rHodas: Jon Favreau on the Cowboys and Aliens Trailer

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Jon Favreau on the Cowboys and Aliens Trailer

Director Jon Favreau says he was just trying to get "people's feet wet" with the Cowboys and Aliens trailer screened on Super Bowl Sunday. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Favreau (Iron Man 1 & 2) said, "We haven't shown any of the aliens. We want to hold that back. And all the images we're showing are from the beginning, up to the first half of the film. We're not showing a lot of where it goes. The first teaser was showing the opening of the film and a little of the setup. This one is showing more of the sense of adventure as things unfold."

Cowboys and Aliens is a mash-up of genres, including Western and sci-fi, but while there are humorous scenes, it's not a comedy. "I think people's first response on hearing the title, which is a play on words, is that it's going to be a comedy," said Favreau in his EW post-Super Bowl interview. "They've been disappointed in the past when people have played with the Western genre, and not stuck to what's bad-ass about it. When they throw that out the window, and play a pastiche of it, they don't feel like they're getting what they want."

Favreau says one of the reasons he hired Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford was because they're two actors famous for action films - not action comedies. And with Cowboys and Aliens "there's a level of fun, but that doesn't mean we have to wink. The characters aren't having fun, but the audience is," said Favreau.

For more on the director's revealing interview, visit EW. And check out the new trailer to see what the fuss is all about: