14 DAY TRIAL // Without a doubt, “Iron Man” is one of the biggest superhero franchises out there and, in case you were wondering how Terrence Howard must be feeling to have been replaced by Don Cheadle after the first film, you should know that he’s super miffed.
Howard stopped by Andy Cohen’s Bravo show Watch What Happens Live to promote a new movie, when the question of his disappearance from the franchise after the first film came up. Previous rumors had claimed that Howard had asked for too much money and was considered replaceable, hence Don Cheadle’s appearance in his stead.
However, the actor argues, he never asked for more money: he was simply double-crossed by the man he considered his friend and whom he had helped land the Iron Man part, Robert Downey Jr.
“Would you like to really know? It turns out in order for – this is going to get me in a lot of trouble – it turns out that the person that I helped become Iron Man... when it was time to re-up for the second one, took the money that was supposed to go to me and pushed me out,” Howard tells Cohen.
In other words, the salary bump RDJ got from the studio after the first film wasn’t so much a bump as it was money that Howard should have gotten, as per his contract. That sounds a bit too… illegal to actually have happened, but let’s hear the man out.
“We did a three picture deal, so that means that you did the deal ahead of time. There was going to be a certain amount for the first one, a certain amount for the second, and a certain amount for the third,” he explains.
“They came to me with the second and said, ‘Look, we will pay you one eighth of what we contractually had for you, because we think the second one will be successful with or without you.’ I called ‘my friend’ that I helped get the first job, and he didn't call me back for three months,” the actor continues.
So RDJ took the deal and just stood by as his friend was being fired in such an unceremonious manner, or so this story alleges.
Howard doesn’t even attempt to hide his profound dislike for his former “friend.” Asked by Cohen if the broken bridges have been mended since then, he replies quite sinisterly, “Oh I love him, God's going to bless him.”
Robert Downey Jr.’s publicist refused to comment on this. For the record, for the second installment, he was paid $50 million (€37.06 million), which made him the biggest earner in Hollywood at that time.