Update: Gary oldman’s manager, Douglas Urbanski, he posted the following at SHH:
“Mr. Oldman did not visit the set of Iron Man and there are currently no plans for him to appear in the film.”
]]>–Avengers is delayed a year because of financing issues but also because the plan is for Favreau to helm it. Everybody here loves the guy and he wants to do it, but it would have been impossible for him to do before the date change given his Iron Man 2 commitments. Also partly the reason why he agreed to do the Stark sequel on such an accelerated schedule was so he could get given first dibs on this. It would still be a punishing schedule for him, so hes not firmly confirmed yet, but he is certainly the presumptive director at this point.
- Iron Man starts rehearsals in a few days, which is why the casting is finally coming together so quickly.
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Call me Fuzzy Dunlop
Via The Playlist
]]>“Right now, we’re not doing Iron Man 2,” Rourke told us grimly.
That’s the word from Vulture at Fashion Week (via /Film). We’d previous reported that Rourke playing Crimson Dynamo was ‘inaccurate’ via Downey Jr., but that was presumed a Crimson Dynamo inaccuracy — the leading rumor being that Whiplash would be the replacement. We’ve also heard that Rourke was offered only $250k for the role.
It’s not off the cards yet, but it’s heading down that path — especially with his new role in Sylvester Stallone’s ‘The Expendables’.
Iron Man 2 really is having casting and production nightmares what with Samuel Jackson not happy with his pay and abandoning the Nick Fury role, Emily Blunt being scheduled out of playing Black Widow, Terrence Howard being replaced by Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau not happy with his pay deal either.
Is it cause enough to speculate that Iron Man 2 is having funding problems during the ‘economic downturn’, or are they just tightening their belts a little too much?
]]>Earlier this week Eliza Dushku showed an interest in the role on the Howard Stern show whilst promoting Dollhouse, strongly suggesting she had put her name down for the part (via /Film):
“They’re doing Iron Man 2, and I’m so perfect for the Black Widow character, that they just need to get into it. They need to understand… I just learned Russian because I had to play a Russian girl in Dollhouse.”
Today Entertainment Weekly report that Marvel are in talks with several actresses for an Emily Blunt replacement, with Scarlett Johansson on the top of the list, although Marvel obviously cannot confirm anything at this stage.
]]>When it came to Mickey Rourke and his suggested role as Crimson Dynamo Downey Jr. said “that’s actually incorrect”, giving the impression that said casting announcement was premature. An alternative character that Rourke could be playing is Whiplash. To which Downey cryptically responded he could neither confirm or deny those rumors, “the nerd stuff is top drawer security”.
]]>Then there is comeback kid Mickey Rourke, who is poised to follow his Golden Globe-winning performance in “The Wrestler” with an offer to play the main villain in “Iron Man 2″ — but at a lowball opening offer of $250,000 from Marvel; Marvel’s tactics have already prompted Samuel L. Jackson to swear off playing Nick Fury because of a similarly low offer.
Maybe we’ll see a return of stop motion effects too?
]]>“I saw [’Iron Man’ and ‘Iron Man 2′ director] Jon Favreau at the Scream Awards and we had a conversation. He said, ‘I hope things are working out for you because we’re writing stuff for you.’ Then all of a sudden last week I talked to my agents and manager and things aren’t really working that well.”
“There was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down. I don’t know. Maybe I won’t be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won’t be in it. There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world so [they’re saying to me], ‘We’re not making that deal.’”
It’s possible this public statement from Jackson could be a part of a ploy to get a better contract from Marvel Studios, although Jon Favreau and Terrence Howard, (Rhodey has now been recast with Don Cheadle taking on the role), have both outwardly shown similar contractual and funding issues.
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