…but that bad choice wasn’t Don Cheadle, exactly.
Back in October, when Marvel abruptly recast the role of Jim Rhodes for Iron Man 2, Terrence Howard expressed confusion and surprise in an interview with NPR. He had no idea, he said, that things had changed until the fact that Don Chealde would be replacing him ran in the trades.
Now, while doing roundtables for Fighting, Howard spoke up a bit about Marvel’s business dealings. Sci-Fi Wire was there. “They made
a choice. They made a very, very bad choice. They didn’t keep their
word. They didn’t honor our contract. They sent everyone out into a
field and told them to work and produce a great bounty. You produce a
great bounty, and then when it’s all in the storehouse, you are not
allowed into the storehouse.”
He was also disappointed that, when Marvel lowballed everyone and ultimately sacked him, the cast didn’t come together to bargain. “They [lowballed] almost everyone, I think, except Downey throughout the
thing. One of the things that actors need to learn to do is take a tip
from Friends [whose cast members all held out for higher pay]. You always choose to stick together. One for all and all for one.”
That statement is interesting, since we’ve heard a lot about how Howard’s diva attitude was what cost him the role in the first place. Offsetting any assumptions about how Howard might feel about his replacement, he says he’s enthusiastic to see Cheadle’s work in the film. “I want to see Don Cheadle become me. I want him to do better
than me. That’s what I really want to see. I think he can. Don Cheadle
is the reason I got on Crash. He was one of the producers on Crash,
and he called and got me in there. So it’s like Don is good by me,
anything he does. He’s given me the greatest gift I could ever imagine
having. Don gave me that, so anything I have, I’ll share with him.” Don Cheadle gets to become him? Yeah, OK. Whatever.