Jimmy Kimmel surprises Jon Favreau with “secret” ‘Iron Man’ snippet starring Samuel L. Jackson
Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on March 2, 2023
The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live Wednesday night, and surprised the chat show host and geek with his very own Star Wars action figure — but Kimmel returned the favor with a surprise of his own.
After Kimmel happily received his custom figure — a miniature of him smiling, frozen in a block of carbonite like Han Solo — Kimmel shocked Favreau by revealing a “secret” video Jon had shot on the set of 2008’s Iron Man.
Favreau recalled asking Samuel L. Jackson — a “real geek” — to take part in a “top secret shoot” that would become the first of many Marvel post-credit scenes. In the movie, Jackson’s Nick Fury made his first appearance and informed Robert Downey Jr.‘s Tony Stark about what Fury called The Avengers Initiative, which laid the groundwork for the eventual Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But Favreau said he shot an alternate take “for me, I knew it wouldn’t be in the movie … just for fun.”
That’s when Kimmel interrupted and, to Favreau’s apparent shock, said he had the footage and played it.
Sure enough, there were Downey and Jackson once again in Tony’s living room, but acting out new dialog.
“Who the hell are you?” Stark asks Fury.
“Nick Fury, motherf***er,” Jackson replies, deadpan.
Favreau was asked if he knew that film would lead to dozens more movies and a shared cinematic universe. “We didn’t know, honestly,” he said.
“When Robert Downey was cast, that’s when I thought, ‘Oh, this could be cool and really special.’ And we attracted, because of Robert, I think, a lot of great other actors like Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth [Paltrow], and … the characters became interesting and comedy was offbeat.”
(Video contains censored profanity.)
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