It was one thing when Terence Howard was jettisoned in favor of Don Cheadle.
But this crud is seeming to get ridiculous now.
According to Variety (as MTV's Splash Page already pointed to), Marvel Studios lowballed both Mickey Rourke and Samuel L. Jackson for their roles in Iron Man 2. Rumors have suggested that Rourke is (was?) set to play Whiplash, while Jackson is obviously meant to reprise his role as Nick Fury.
After an amazing first Iron Man movie that hit all the right notes, especially in casting, Marvel Studios might be risking the health of the franchise to save a few bucks during these rough economic times.
Sam Rockwell is rumored to be in the process of getting cast as Justin Hammer. Emily Blunt is said to be cast as Black Widow, as well. Rumor has it that Rockwell might be getting lowballed, as well. While it is possible that there might be a silver lining where the movie doesn't get bogged down with too many villains, you don't want to achieve that result by alienating actors and agents needlessly.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Iron Man 2 Casting Chaos?
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Well to be fair there's always some sort of bump for when you win an award. But if Rourke DIDN'T win then who the hell would care? And from some of the stuff I've read online his part in the movie DOING stuff may only be 10 to 15 minutes. I say lowball the hell out of that one. Gets him in the movie, yay more publicity, puts him in a successful movie, and it's a paycheck.
ReplyDeleteThe same should be said for Rockwell. Especially if it's the same situation.
Given the fact that Sam Jackson (who is set to be in several Marvel Studios movies as Nick Fury) was lowballed as well, I don't buy into it being based on the amount of screen time he's getting.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much he was paid to be in the first and how much screen time he'll have in the second. If it's not a lot then why pay millions for 10 minutes? He could be a real douche and demand a huge amount or he won't do an Avengers movie but c'mon he doesn't deserve a giant pay check for 10 minutes. No one does.
ReplyDeleteLooking around that MTV page, Rockwell says he has already signed on to play Hammer. Though he knew nothing about the character which could be a concern. Also a rather worrying story that Billy Bob Thornton could have potentially got cast as Stark.
ReplyDeleteThey would be better off going with the Crimson Dynamo though for Rourke I feel. I'd have concerns about how Whiplash's gimp suit attire would look on the big screen. They'd probably need to redesign it. But then would you want another robot vs robot fight. Hmm, pros and cons.
I don't think you can blame Marvel all that much for this, if they can save some cash out of it then it's worth it to them. Although if the actors felt insulted, then that could be a problem. This is probably only the tip of the iceberg though. When 'The Avengers' comes around they could feel a huge burn on wages alone.
Jake: it's not known whether the lowball contract Jackson received was just for the sequel or a multi-picture deal to include the other franchises. The $250k figure is what was called a lowball for Rourke's (ostensibly) larger role in IM2 than Jackson has, so we don't know that Sam was demanding millions for ten minutes.
ReplyDeletePaul: that's the price of deciding you want the Avengers movie to include the casts from all the related pictures. Each individual franchise needs talent that can carry it, with the Avengers then having 3-5 movies worth of potential tent pole stars.
no offense to Mickey Roarke since he's probably a nice guy in real life, but i think he has the evil villain look down pretty good without even trying
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