Jon Favreau returning to Chicago to chat with Robert Downey Jr., receive award
Actor, director and former Chicagoan Jon Favreau will return to town in June to accept an award from the Gene Siskel Film Center and be interviewed on stage by a frequent collaborator, Robert Downey Jr.
The Film Center announced Tuesday that the “Iron Man” and “Elf” director will receive the 2019 Renaissance Award during a June 15 benefit at the Four Seasons Chicago, 120 E. Delaware.
It will be familiar surroundings for both actors: Favreau attended the event in 2009 to honor George Lucas, and Downey was the Renaissance recipient the next year.
Favreau’s other directing credits include two remakes of animated Disney classics: “The Jungle Book” and this summer’s “The Lion King.” In his acting role as Tony Stark’s chauffeur Happy Hogan, he has appeared with Downey in multiple Marvel movies including the current smash “Avengers: Endgame.”
A Queens native, Favreau began his show-business career as an improv actor in Chicago in the late ’80s and early ’90s. “You can’t say I’m afraid to take on challenges, can you?” he said in a 2016 Sun-Times interview. “I trace a lot of that desire to mix things up back to my old improv training I got right here in Chicago.”
Tickets for the benefit begin at $500; for information, call (312) 846-2076.