Vince Vaughn in Made

'Swingers' Creator Favreau Has It 'Made'

By David Germain
AP Movie Writer HFR;
Thursday, July 12, 2001; 12:01 p.m. EDT

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. –– Jon Favreau figured he was done with art imitating life after he wrote and starred in "Swingers," the indie-film hit inspired by his Hollywood club-hopping.

Favreau reasoned that his next screenplay would be far removed from his own experiences.

So what happened while Favreau was researching and writing his latest film, the mob comedy "Made"? The producers of "The Sopranos" asked him to guest-star as himself, researching and writing a mob movie.

"Art imitated life once again in my career," Favreau said during an interview in a coffee shop along the Sunset Strip, where much of "Swingers" and parts of "Made" were shot.

"Made" reunites Favreau on-screen with close friend and "Swingers" co-star Vince Vaughn. Favreau also makes his directing debut, while he and Vaughn share producer credits.

They do a variation of the mismatched buddy thing from "Swingers," in which Vaughn's too-slick-for-his-own-good Trent offered endless ploys for hitting on women to Favreau's neurotic Mike. Shot for just $250,000, "Swingers" grossed a tidy $4.5 million in 1996 and popularized the hip compliment "You are so money."

"I think 'Swingers' spoke to a generation of people who weren't into grunge or this Gen X whining," Favreau said. "What we had were these very earnest characters who, although they tried to look good, they were ultimately insecure and clueless people.

"As opposed to people in Gen X movies like 'Reality Bites' who look all scruffy and greasy-haired but have it all figured out philosophically. They were one step ahead of the rest of the world. We were happy to be one step behind the rest of the world but think we were really cool."

In "Made," Favreau and Vaughn's characters are more like three steps behind the rest of the world. They play low-level mob mules who are so not money it's funny.

Favreau said he knew people with mob connections growing up in Queens but had no firsthand experience with organized crime. He chose to put his and Vaughn's characters into the same boat, outsiders blustering, bumbling and brawling their way through their first mob assignment.

"Even though you like 'The Sopranos' or 'Goodfellas,' as much as you love those characters from 'The Godfather,' very few people feel like, 'Hey, that's me and my boys,'" Favreau said. "They may like those guys, but it's not like 'Swingers,' where you go, 'That could be me.' I wanted this one to feel like, 'That could be me.'"

Shot for a modest $5 million, "Made" also features Peter Falk, Sean "Puffy" Combs and Famke Janssen, Favreau's co-star in last summer's romantic comedy "Love & Sex."

"We've got a movie that we believe in," Favreau said. "Now it's a matter of: Are there enough people out there who liked 'Swingers' who want to see what our next album is?"

Favreau, 34, dropped out of Queens College after two years and moved to Chicago to study improvisational comedy, figuring he might work his way into the famed comedy ensemble Second City. He landed a key role in the college football film "Rudy" in 1993 and moved to Hollywood soon after.

"The normal track is, you do improv, you tour for Second City or you get in as an understudy," Favreau said. "Maybe get on one of the smaller stages, then get the main stage. Maybe 'Saturday Night Live' finds you there, hires you, you get a sitcom, maybe some movies, and build your way into supporting roles in dramatic films.

"Getting cast in 'Rudy,' I circumvented like a 10-year block of what I thought I'd have to do."

Among Favreau's credits was the title role in last year's TV movie "Rocky Marciano," experience that fed into "Made," in which his character moonlights as a boxer. Favreau's other films include "Very Bad Things," "The Replacements" and "Deep Impact," and he had a recurring role on "Friends."

The Independent Film Channel this month debuts Favreau's "Dinner for Five," an informal talk show where he and four friends share a meal and stories from the Hollywood trenches.

The first installment features Kevin James, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Peter Berg and Joey Lauren Adams. Favreau said he hopes to shoot about four of the shows a year.

Favreau has written and directed TV pilots that never aired and said the bulk of his income has come not through acting but from screenplays he's been hired to rewrite.

Like his character in "Swingers," Favreau finally met the right woman at a Los Angeles nightclub. Favreau and his wife, Joya, a doctor, married last year and are expecting their first son.

Favreau met Vaughn during "Rudy," and they began hanging out after Favreau moved to Los Angeles, cruising bars to pick up women. The "Swingers" script grew out of those experiences, with Trent reflecting Vaughn's confident, pretty-boy manner and Mike a reflection of Favreau's husky, homier looks and more compulsive behavior.

"Things have always come easier in that department for Vince, even before he was famous," Favreau said. "I was never the guy where I'd walk into a bar and the girls would look at me and go, 'Oh, that's the type of guy I wanted to meet when I got ready tonight.' I've always done all right, but it was always through who I was."

© Copyright 2001 The Associated Press