Comic-Con: Jon Favreau’s COWBOYS & ALIENS Panel Featuring Harrison Ford!

One of the last star-studded panels on Saturday was for Jon Favreau’s new project Cowboys and Aliens. The Iron Man director walked out on stage, without an introduction, grabbed the mic, and got the audience of over 6,000 people really excited.

Favreau knows how to command a crowd, and his energy was exactly what everyone needed after a very long day in Hall H.

He brought out on stage his all star cast which included Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, and making his first Comic-Con appearance Harrison Ford. The crowd went insane when Ford walked on stage! The panel then got started with Favreau talking about the new movie, his thoughts on 3D, and that we can expect another Cowboys and Aliens panel at next years convention.

The movie has only been shooting for four weeks but Favreau certainly didn’t skimp on making his panel one of the best of the convention. Right off the bat he talked about why Cowboys and Aliens will NOT be in 3D. The director said they looked into filming it with 3D technology but didn’t like the idea of shooting a western digitally. He ultimately decided against the 3D because he was opposed to post production conversion. His response to that method perfectly summarizes most peoples feelings on it. Favreau stated: “That’s like shooting in black and white, and then colorizing.”

Favreau has been preparing for Comic-Con for some time now. Following him on Twitter, he frequently tweets about his excitement for the convention and that he looked forward to reactions for his new movie. Favreau doesn’t disappoint either. He brought with him footage that he had just edited so everyone in Hall H could get a taste of what’s to come.

The footage was just a few different scenes put together. It wasn’t a trailer and followed no particular order. It started out with Daniel Craig riding on a horse to a home on a ranch. The footage reminded me of an old school western which is a rarity in cinema today. Craig enters what appears to be an empty home, approaches the sink to wash his dirty face, and at this point we see a large metal wrist contraption that is latched to his arm. Then a gun appears, being pointed at Craig, he is not alone in the house. The scene ends.

The next scene starts in a jail cell. Craig is confined in one cell with actor Paul Dano next to him in an adjacent cell. Dano keeps asking him questions, and after several annoying comments, Craig reaches through the bars and slams Dano’s head against the cell, knocking him out.

Next scene shows Craig and Dano shackled in a carriage being hauled away. Harrison Ford, rides up to the prisoners and halts the carriage. We learn that Ford is Dano’s father. The men all argue with one another, as Ford wants to take the prisoners with him. At this point we see a bright fiery light in the sky. It looks like it is moving closer. Then the light changes into several alien looking ships which begin to fire upon the town. The carriage carrying the prisoners is overturned, Craig escapes, his device attached to his wrist has expanded and is glowing. A ship begins to fly towards him, he point his device at it, shoots a laser, and destroys the oncoming attacker. The scene ends with the townsfolk staring at Craig in disbelief.

The footage we were lucky enough to watch was an early first look at this film. I would assume the scenes took place in the beginning of the film and that what we watched was the introduction of Daniel Craig’s mysterious character. It is probably too soon to formulate much of an opinion of the movie. I am very intrigued by what Favreau has going here. The blend of western and science fiction may be a tough sell, but with this cast and talented director I think they can pull it off. The filming style was beautiful, especially for something that was just shot in the last few weeks. The western look with the sci-fi backdrop is fascinating, but possibly too conflicting to engage most audiences.

For now check out the photo up top of Daniel Craig with the lit-up contraption on his wrist so you can get a feel for what we saw yesterday. I look forward to seeing more from this project very soon. If you have any questions ask us in the comment section below!