Terrence Howardrevealed that he felt betrayed byRobert Downey Jr.when his role as James "Rhodey" Rhodes was recast and given toDon Cheadlefollowing the release of the firstIron Manfilm.
During his appearance onThe Joe Rogan Experience, Howard reflected on his time filming Iron Man and claimed he pushed for Downey Jr. tobe castas the lead role of Tony Stark/Iron Man. According to Howard, he asked the film's producer, Avi Arad, to take one million out of the $4.5 million he was getting and use to cast Downey Jr.
"I love Robert. I love what he does. I loved him inWeird Science.WellifRobert wants to come in…So I called Avi Arad immediately.He was the producer on itandI'm like, 'Avi, I hear Robert wants to come inbutyou guys don't even let him audition,'" Howard said in the podcast."He's like, 'Nowe can't bond him.' I'm like, 'Instead of thefourand a half you want to give mewhydon't you take a million dollars for the bond for him and let him audition.'So he gets the part. Robert is like, 'I love you. Thank you so much.'"
Things wentleftasMarvel Studiosdecided togoin a new directionforIron Man 2and had Cheadle take Howard's role from the first film. Howard stated he reached out to Downey Jr. to fix the issue but claimed he couldn'tget a hold ofhim.
"When this other thing happened, I'm calling Robertandhe's doing Sherlock Homes,"Howard continued."I called him 27 timesandIleavea message.I'm calling his assistant. I'm like, 'I need the help I gave you.'Ididn't hearfrom himuntil threeyears later when I bumped into him at Brian Grazer's wedding.But at thattimeI'd had Empire or whateverandI camebackhe was like, 'Ohbuteverything worked out for you.'That broke me a little bit."
According to Howard, his initial contract had him signed up for$8million three-movie deal but Marvel Studios wanted lower the price to $1 million.Howard's agent wasn't having it and berated Marvel Studios while hanging up the phone on them while discussing the new deal. Marvel went another route following the meeting.
"They said, 'We want Terrencebutwe want him to come back for a milliondollars,instead of the 8 millionthat we hadagreed to.'My agenthad an emotional reactionto a business decisionandhesaid, 'F-you',and hung up the phone,"Howard said."Immediately, they go to Don Cheadle. But instead of just doingthatthey had to spend, 'Oh, he was terrible on set,'and all of these things and went through all this stuff."
Downey Jr. hasbeen knownto stand up for his fellowthespians. In 2013,Deadlinereported the actor received a $50 million payout from Marvel Studios while his castmates barely cracked $200,000. According toDeadline, Downey Jr. threatened to leave the Marvel Cinematic Universe if contracts weremadefair for every actor and actress involved.
