Entertainment Weekly has more info on why Terrence Howard may have lost his role to Don Cheadle. Howard was in the enviable position to play heavily armed, fan-favorite "War Machine" in Iron Man 2, but in a shocking turn of events, Marvel announced that another actor, Don Cheadle, was signed in his stead.
Howard reportedly was "surprised" by the sacking, and fans expressed bafflement as well. While some insiders cited "difficult behavior" on the set of Iron Man as fodder for the firing, it turns out that the other rumor we heard--that of money, might have had more to do with it.
Not that there hasn't been some bad blood brewing concurrently alongside the money issue. EW reported that, "Favreau and his producers were ultimately unhappy with Howard's performance, and spent a lot of time cutting and reshooting his scenes."
Ouch. I wondered why nothing ever slipped out from Downey or Favs in favor of Terrence. That might have been why.
But here is the major poop. It seems that Howard was the beneficiary of a freak negotiating snafu. Somehow, having been the first to sign on to the Iron Man movie, he was able to make a sweetheart deal and was actually the highest paid actor on the whole project. Reports say he made more money than Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow and yes, even more than Robert Downey Jr! Can you believe that?
Due to how things played out, by the time everyone was signed on, there was no way to renegotiate Howard's contract. So, he lucked out on the legal and kept a leading man's salary for his co-starring role. But when it came time to do the bean counting for Iron Man 2, Marvel offered Howard a drastically reduced payday--possibly as much as 80% less than what he'd made for the first movie, and more in line with the supporting cast member’s salary of the first film. Then when Terrence blew them off, as they knew he would, Marvel went straight for Cheadle, which may have also been premeditated.
The article also states that in order to promulgate this plan, Jon Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux minimized Jim Rhodes’ role in the sequel, but that after Marvel got the cold response from Terrence Howard and secured Don Cheadle, they beefed up Rhodeys role.
One also assumes that War Machine may make an appearance in The Avengers movie as well since Marvel announced this week that Cheadle was also signed for that. Poor Terrence Howard has missed out on two potentially awesome comic book movies! And as if that didn't suck enough, this last week he has been tagged with a $5 million lawsuit.
The onetime Oscar nominee is facing allegations of assault from Tex Allen, the composer of the Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that Howard headlined last winter. Allen, a jazz pianist and brother of Cat's director, Debbie Allen, claims he was punched in the kisser by Howard during a rehearsal back in January.
Ah, Hollywood drama.