Despite my efforts to uncloud the minds of the masses under the thumb of Hollywood’s relentless hype-machine, I cannot deny that movies have played a very important role in many of the decisions I’ve made in my life. When it came to deciding on a spot to spend our Honeymoon, there was no doubt in my mind that when I saw Zihuatenejo on my list, we had to go there. It was, after all, where Red and Andy escaped to at the end of The Shawshank Redemption. I’ll admit that the beaches weren’t white like in the movie, but I don’t think I could have picked a better spot to visit.
So given my history it comes as no surprise to me that I now find that I am being subtly coerced by Jon Favreau into visiting Famous Ray’s Pizza in New York City. In Favreau’s 2003 Christmas movie Elf, out of all the advice that Santa Claus can offer to a man visiting New York City for the first time, he tells him that out of the 30 or so Ray’s Pizzas, “the real one’s on 11th.” (Apparently, Wikipedia says that actual original Ray’s is on Prince Street.) You can’t do much better than advice from Santa Claus – but not good enough, you say? How about a pair of billionaire industrialists talking over a board meeting in Malibu California? When Obidiah Stane returns from New York City to speak with Tony Stark in Favreau’s 2008 Superhero tour de force Iron Man, his pizza of choice to bring with him is Famous Original Ray’s.
I would never suggest that Jon Favreau is shilling for Ray’s – merely that he is putting an unmistakeable New York spin on the movies he is making. And I don’t see anything wrong with that. All it does is provide me with more things to do the next time I’m in the Big Apple. After I’m done scarfing some pizza at Ray’s I can head down to and .
[...] Jon Favreau wants me to eat at Famous Original Ray’s! [...]