John Favreau Takes Directors Chair for ‘Jersey Boys’ Movie

Actor and director Jon Favreau announced yesterday via Twitter that he will direct the upcoming film adaptation of “Jersey Boys.”

“Yes, I’m directing Jersey Boys, and there’s an open call for the lead roles,” Favreau tweeted. The news follows the January announcement that playwright John Logan is writing the big screen adaptation of the popular musical about Frankie Valli and his 1960s pop group, the Four Seasons.

The long-running musical opened on Broadway in November 2005 after previews began the previous month. The production was nominated for eight Tony Awards and won three, including Best Musical. A London version of the musical premiered in 2008, and took home the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The show has subsequently been turned into numerous touring versions around the world, and currently is on tour in North America.

Favreau is most recently known for directing the “Iron Man” movies, and he also produced “The Avengers.” As an actor he has appeared in “The Break-Up,” “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” and as Monica Geller’s affluent boyfriend Pete Becker in a number of episodes of “Friends.” He became known as a writer for the 1996 movie “Swingers,” which he also starred in. That movie also featured Vince Vaughn, Heather Graham and Ron Livingston.

John Logan is known as a screenwriter for films including “Gladiator,” “The Last Samurai” and Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo.” He is perhaps best known in Broadway circles for his play “Red,” about artist Mark Rothko. The play won the Tony Award for Best Play.

“Jersey Boys” tells the unlikely story of the journey of a group of blue collar boys from New Jersey as they find musical success on the national stage. The musical uses many songs by The Four Seasons in the production.

A casting notice states that the film will begin filming early next year, and is likely to be released in 2014.