MTV recently caught up with Robert Downey Jr. (not hard, dude runs like a little bitch) to ask what he thought about the replacement of Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2.
“I think the important thing with the ‘Iron Man’ franchise is to not do too much too soon and to make sure we don’t piss off the public that put us in the position we’re in,” said Downey. “We’ve just got to keep rolling up our sleeves higher and further up the elbow. If we show up and we’re in the right head space and our heart’s in the right spot and we really think about the audience at every turn and we don’t try to stamp our hipness onto anything. It’s very interactive.”
Dude, f-ck the public. Seriously, have you seen us? Just lead and the retarded sheep will follow, as long as Cheaters isn’t on.
When asked if he had anything to do with the Howard/Cheadle switch, Downey immediately responded, “I had nothing to do with that decision. I love Terrence very very much. That’s all I’ll say because I haven’t talked to him yet.” “I’ve always admired Don [Cheadle],” said Downey. “It’s one of those situations where I still don’t quite know what happened or why. Here’s what happens too: things happen and you wind up commenting on them before you’ve actually talked to the people and it’s in poor taste.”
Well of course he’s not going to say anything bad about Terrence Howard. Can you imagine the tortured poetry that guy would write if he was sad? He’d probably get up onstage and just stand there holding a snow globe over his head. Someone in the back would hit a triangle, and he’d stare at the audience while a single tear rolled down his cheek.
Marvel just put out a press release confirming Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle for Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. Jon Favreau will direct the former and exec produce a ladder.
IRON MAN will be released in theatres on May 7, 2010 and THE AVENGERS will be released July 15, 2011.
THE AVENGERS will bring together Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk and more.
…An agreement has been finalized with award-winning actor Don Cheadle to take on the role of Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes. In casting Cheadle, Marvel replaces Terrence Howard who appeared in the role of Rhodey in IRON MAN. [source]
Long story short, still no explanation for replacing Terrence Howard. I’m guessing it’s because he’s batshit crazy. Reached for comment, Howard asked, “Have you ever seen, like, a moonbeam do the softshoe, man? Orphans slithering round the fire escapes like the cover of an old bible? Because I have. Wrote six poems about it. Skee bop a dweedle do, schmoo gop a meedle moo, shibbity shibbity shibbity SHOOM…”
Why yes, thank you, it is very literal.
According to a new report in Hollywood Reporter (how apropos!!), Terrence Howard is out of the upcoming Iron Man sequel, and will be replaced by similarly Oscar-nominated black actor Don Cheadle (Cheadle’s nomination was for Hotel Rwanda in ‘04, Howard’s for Hustle & Flow in ‘06).
In the movie, Howard played Jim Rhodes, Tony Stark/Iron Man’s best friend and future armor-clad hero War Machine.
Marvel had no comment, but sources close to the deal said negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences, among other reasons. Marvel, which had wanted to work with Cheadle, then decided to take the role in another direction and approached the actor [I presume they mean Howard here - it's not not called The Hollywood Proofreader for nothing], who is shooting Antoine Fuqua’s “Brooklyn’s Finest” with Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke.
They’re both great actors, so I don’t see this having that much affect on the final movie, which teams original director and star Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. with Tropic Thunder screenwriter Justin Theroux (a good move - the screenplay was definitely the weakest point of the first one). But I don’t see how they can cite financial reasons and in the same breath say they wanted Cheadle all along. One would assume Cheadle doesn’t come cheap either. I guess the only real danger here is confusing people into thinking Tony Stark has more than one black friend.
This is the time of year when studios dump the crap they know no one will see anyway. Don’t believe me? Opening this weekend (click titles to watch trailer):
Babylon A.D.
Even the director says this sucks. I do not disagree, sir.
College (up top)
Ugh. That is all.
Disaster Movie
You know it’s good because Kim Kardashian’s in it.
Traitor
An action movie starring Don Cheadle based on an idea by Steve Martin. If this was any good we would’ve heard a lot more about it. The best thing I can say about it is that it looks like something I’d watch on an airplane.
There you have it, folks. This three-day weekend is a great time to be outside.
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR TRAITOR AFTER THE JUMP
Traitor stars Don Cheadle as a former US Special Operations officer wanted as a terrorist being tracked by Guy Pearce and Jeff Bridges Daniels. It’s based on an idea from Steve Martin (wuzzah?) and is being directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff.
This has potential. Cheadle’s one of the best actors around and Guy Pearce’s is no slouch, but so what. I won a spelling bee in sixth grade and you don’t see me bragging about it all the time.
[via Cinematical]
