What is not addressed here is that Terrence Howard's primary crime appears to be that he, a black man and supporting player, managed to score a higher salary than his more famous white co-stars. I can see this festering into a nasty point of contention which the producers ham-handedly tried to rectify by slashing Howard's pay for the sequel - because, make no mistake, Downey and Paltrow are more important to this franchise than Howard is.
I have experienced a similar situation in my workplace, a situation that grew ugly when one of our engineers found out that I, a technician, and a black one at that, was making more money than she was. My situation had a different resolution, however, as I remained at the company and the engineer (who didn't know company culture as well as I did - which was how I scored my salary in the first place) was given an "opportunity" to work elsewhere. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, "Tracey de Morsella" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 'Iron Man 2': How Terrence Howard Lost His Metal > > Marvel's decision to recast the role of Col. Jim Rhodes said to be a > combination of salary issues and concern about the performance > > By > <http://search.ew.com/EWSearch/ew/search/search.html? type=ew:Nicole+Sperling > ;> Nicole Sperling > > Nicole Sperling > > Nicole Sperling > > When a summer blockbuster grosses more than $300 million, putting together a > sequel is typically as simple as throwing buckets of money at your stars and > signing a few pieces of paper. That hasn't been the case with > <http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20197922,00.html> Iron Man 2. It took > months for Marvel <http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,276445,00.html> Studios > to lock in director Jon Favreau > <http://www.ew.com/ew/allabout/0,,20001160,00.html> for the sequel. And > reports that Don > <http://www.ew.comhttp:/popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/10/iron-man- cheadl.htm > l> Cheadle will replace Terrence Howard as Col. Jim Rhodes - a supporting > character who seemed poised for a big role in the follow-up after he > muttered ''Next time, baby'' to Iron Man's steel suit - hint that IM2 isn't > quite as infallible as the superhero at its center. > > Hollywood insiders believe the exit stems from Terrence Howard > <http://www.ew.com/ew/allabout/0,,20000750,00.html> 's difficult behavior on > the set of Iron Man. But those with intimate knowledge of the situation > suggest a far more dramatic backstory: Howard was the first actor signed to > the film and, on top of that, was the highest-paid. That's right: more than > Gwyneth Paltrow <http://www.ew.com/ew/allabout/0,,20000024,00.html> . More > than Jeff <http://www.ew.com/ew/allabout/0,,20001002,00.html> Bridges. More > than Robert Downey Jr. <http://www.ew.com/ew/allabout/0,,20000121,00.html> > And once the project fully came together, it was too late to renegotiate his > deal. It didn't help that, according to one source, Favreau and his > producers were ultimately unhappy with Howard's performance, and spent a lot > of time cutting and reshooting his scenes. (Favreau could not be reached for > comment, while Howard's publicist says: ''Terrence had a tremendous > experience working on Iron Man.'') > > As such, when Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux > <http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,645687,00.html> went to map out the sequel > they found themselves minimizing Howard's story line. Once Marvel learned > that Favreau was thinking of curtailing the role, the studio went to the > actor's agents with a new and drastically reduced offer - a number that's > similar to what supporting cast members were paid for the first movie. The > agents, according to sources, were so taken aback by this new figure - > estimated at somewhere between a 50 and 80 percent pay cut - that they > questioned it. Why did they blanch? Multiple sources say that Marvel execs > never told Howard's reps that they had issues with the star's on-set > conduct. (Marvel would not comment for this story.) > > It's unclear whether Howard's team walked away first, or if Marvel ended the > discussion at that point. Either way, the studio moved quickly to secure > Cheadle and the story leaked out the next morning, Oct. 14. And alas for > Howard, there will be no next time. > > More from the EW archive: > <http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/10/iron-man-cheadl.html> Iron Man 2: > Don Cheadle's in > > Terrence <http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/10/iron-man-2- terr.html> > Howard Breaks Silence on Iron Man >
