Jon Favreau's Inside Details of Garry Shandling's 'Bittersweet' Final Role in 'The Jungle Book'

Jon Favreau and Garry Shandling at the ‘Iron Man 2’ premiere in 2010. (Getty)

Garry Shandling’s sudden death last month at age 66 shocked friends and fans alike. One person particularly stung by the loss was Jon Favreau, who brought Shandling back to the screen in Iron Man 2 following the entertainer’s hiatus from acting. Favreau also recruited Shandling for what would become his final film credit: the possessive porcupine Ikki in The Jungle Book, a film that Favreau has dedicated to his friend’s memory. Here, in his own words, Favreau tells Yahoo Movies what it was like to work with Shandling one last time.

_____________________________________________

He was a mentor to dozens of filmmakers, and he was the first person many people showed their film or script to. He was extremely generous and, of course, a genius. Not just in comedy, but in story.

I would hit him up. I’d say, “Would you play a porcupine? It’s Ikki, who’s not in the animated film, but he is in the [original stories by Rudyard] Kipling, so he’s part of the legacy and is an important character.” And he really liked the idea of a porcupine, especially a porcupine that’s concerned with hurting others, but still is defensive.

So he improvised everything. And then, he calls me back months later and says, “I’d really like another crack at it. I have some new ideas.” Now it’s not a lot of screen time. I say, “It’s already animated. It’s done. We can’t really change anything at this point.”

In the beginning, I allow for improvisation, overlapping rewrites — and he wrote everything that he did. And I said, “OK, come on in,” as a courtesy. He says, “I’ll fit in with the lip sync of what’s there. You won’t have to change anything.”

And the one nice thing, in retrospect, is he came in and saw a finished animation. Of course, he’s the type of guy, you don’t want to show him just his scene — you want to show him as much as he’ll sit for, because he’s so generous and enthusiastic. It was so great to show him this footage and get his reaction, because he’s not used to working on films like this … the wonder of what we did with the recording we had, and how he was depicted, and how his character was inspired by his performance.

Sure enough, he goes in there, and he loops to the picture, and he plusses every joke. And he really did do a better job of it, of that small part. But he was that kind of perfectionist.

So it’s a bit bittersweet for me. I’m happy that he’s in it. I’m happy I get to remember him when he’s there. I’m happy we get to dedicate it. But I’m also very sad, because it reminds me that he’s no longer with us. And he’s such a special, special man.

_____________________________________________

The Jungle Book opens on April 15.