We’ve taken you behind the scenes, into director Jon Favreau’s mind, shared the movies that inspired the sci-fi western, and now we continue our set visit of Cowboys & Aliens with a look at its stars. Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, Daniel Craig, and Paul Dano all took time out of a busy shoot to talk about the film and get our hands dirty. All professionalism goes out the window when talking to Harrison Ford. He was standing 20 yards away the entire afternoon of the set visit, posted up like a western specter on the top of an outcropping in his cowboy hat against the blazing sun. Now he’s standing toe-to-toe with me, and I’m not embarrassed to admit now that I lose my cool. I find myself shaking hands with a living legend and looking around to make sure that the other journalists lose their composure, too. There’s a one-sided giddiness that suddenly finds its way permeating the steel cool of those used to meeting the famous, and the latent buzz is pretty heavy in the air with Ford standing there. I imagine this is what God must feel like when he’s shaking Harrison Ford’s hand. The man of so many iconic roles doesn’t say much, but he smiles a wry smile when he does speak, leading me to believe that even he can tell that the group is seriously considering losing critical credibility in order to give him a great big hug and ask Indiana Jones to autograph [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

We’ve taken you behind the scenes of Cowboys & Aliens and into the mind of director Jon Favreau, and today we dig deeper into the films that the filmmakers talked most about during the set visit. Cowboys & Aliens may be the only Steven Spielberg film that Steven Spielberg isn’t directing. From the conversations I shared with Jon Favreau and co-screenwriter Bob Orci on the set of the film, a select group of movies kept returning to the fold as titles that had a lot to do with the shaping of tone and storytelling. A theme quickly emerged. While Executive Producer Steven Spielberg was busy inviting the filmmakers to private screenings of new prints of The Searchers, the filmmakers were drawing on their childhood love of Amblin and the films of Spielberg himself. Still, even though it lacks diversity in the directorial column, this is one seriously formidable list of inspirational films.

Yesterday we took you out into the middle of New Mexico and behind the scenes of Cowboys & Aliens. Today, we continue our week-long set visit report by talking with director Jon Favreau. I’m standing in the middle of the desert, and Jon Favreau is holding an alien arm up toward my face. There’s this look in his eyes that reads as a mix of sheer excitement and a hopefulness that the group surrounding him approves of his alien arm. From the amount of questions buzzing him like airplanes taking a pass at a giant ape on the top of a tall building, it seems like they do. Favreau has navigated a jungle-like career (which started in earnest when he met Vince Vaughn on the set of Rudy) in order to stand in front of some sun-stroked journalists with a piece of painted plastic in his hand. That career has taken him from the college of PCU to the fighting style of Friends and through indie acclaim, Comic Con domination, and into the metal suit of Iron Man which, of course, led him to New Mexico in more ways than one.

“So anything you’re seeing is really spoiler stuff here, right?” That’s how Jon Favreau greets us as he takes refuge inside a pop up tent that is struggling to keep the New Mexican heat and dust out. He’s a force as he enters, a commanding man whose voice is a mix of sarcasm and sweet. Still, he’s about as unimposing as a man over six feet tall can be, and with his breathable pants and bandana he seems more likely to be taking a group of scouts camping than directing a science fiction western starring Daniel Craig. Plus, he’s right about the spoilers. Cowboys & Aliens doesn’t hit theaters until July of 2011, but FSR was invited to the set in the middle of August to watch the crew film a scene and to see who could avoid heat exhaustion the longest (it was Harrison Ford). We won’t be revealing any spoilers from the film, but we will be spending the entire week exploring what the set was like, discovering the movies that inspired the shoot, and talking with Favreau, co-writer Bob Orci, and the cast. Plus, hot off the old dusty trail, we’ve got two behind-the-scenes pictures to share with you after we take you into the canyon where the film was made.

Take a gander at the best teaser you’ll see this week.

Jon Favreau’s follow-up to Iron Man 2 keeps him firmly entrenched in the big budget world of comic book adaptations, but this time it’s with a far lesser known property. The best way to make up for that shortfall of awareness? Reign in one hell of a cast… Daniel Craig, Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde,Paul Dano, and Harrison Freaking Ford. That’s right. Harrison Ford is returning to science fiction for the first time since 1983′s Return Of the Jedi. Can only go up from there… The first trailer for the film will be released tomorrow, but to whet your appetite until then Universal has unveiled the first poster. With a cast like this it’s almost a guarantee it’ll be filled with familiar faces and names right? Think again partner. Aside from continuing to inexplicably promote Nintendo’s Power Glove the poster makes a bid for anachronistic teasing over selling itself with celebrity. It’s a shrewd move even if the final result does hew a bit too close to the poster for Jonah Hex (sans CGI sidekick Megan Fox of course).

Jon Favreau is once again the King of Comic-Con. In a lackluster year where fans have sat through panels for films that have nothing to do with comic books (and some little to do with anything interesting), the Iron Man director hit the stage like an adrenaline needle to a crowd already buzzing to see the Marvel panel later in the evening. It’s been a hectic day of overcrowding, a trailer presentation that brought on the boos, and a fight that broke out and resulted in police action. After the panel for Paul brought everyone back to life, Favreau was joined on stage by Daniel Craig…then Olivia Wilde…then Sam Rockwell…and then, Harrison “Throw Me the Idol” Ford. So, perhaps it was the five minute standing ovation that got the crowd in the giving mood, but the footage for the definitely 2D Cowboys vs Aliens was spectacular. Since it could be considered a bit spoilery, hit the jump.

It’s been a busy night for the ladies of Mad Men. First the lovely Alison Brie joins Scream 4, and now Abigail Spencer — best known as Don Drapers fiery school teacher mistress — is joining the Jon Favreau directed actioner Cowboys and Aliens. This will mark her studio feature debut, as she joins Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford and Sam Rockwell. Seriously — how ’bout that cast?

Some will find this interesting. I don’t. Not really. But like any journalist worth his salt (still something questioned hourly in my case), I am here to give the people what they want.

Is Iron Man 2 an escapist, crowd-pleasing piece of big-budget popcorn entertainment, or a two-hour ad for neo-capitalism? Can it be both?

Favreau isn’t locked in as director yet, but he wants the job, and he wants the biggest bad guy of them all.

You know the deal, we like movies, but not necessarily every little bit. Iron Man 2 comes out on the positive side with 10 things we liked, but 5 we didn’t.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr welcomes the summer movie season by handing out a grade to Iron Man 2.

The ass-kicking superhero sequel Iron Man 2 opens and gives the Fat Guys a chance to talk about the kick-off of the summer movie season. They also lay down a Fat Guy Five about awesome superhero sequels… which was a lot harder than they thought it would be.

The wait is over. Summer 2010 has officially begun today with the release of Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2. Now all we need in order to complete the cycle is your review.

The pressure was on. With the release of Iron Man in 2007, Marvel Studios and the universe created by director Jon Favreau turned the world of comic book movies upside down. With all eyes on the sequel, did they pull it off?

Sam Rockwell will be joining the cast of Jon Favreau’s Cowboys and Aliens as a supporting character. This only makes the already excellent cast of this film even more excellent.

A year ago, almost to the week, Paramount Pictures made Austin, TX the epicenter of geek envy with a surprise premiere of Star Trek at the Alamo Drafthouse. And as summer 2010 began to approach, the question on everyone’s minds was whether or not we’d get another surprise. On Tuesday night, we had our answer.

The verdict is in: there is no verdict yet on whether Iron Man 2 is great, good, bad or terrible.

Throughout the week, Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment have been slowly releasing little clips from their upcoming tentpole Iron Man 2. Most of them have been rather boring. Not this one, though.