NPR isn’t exactly the place you expect to find breaking superhero movie news, as appealing as the idea of listening to Scott Simon talk about who’s stronger, She-Hulk or Wonder Girl, is. But in this weekend interview with Terrence Howard, whose replacement in the role of Rhodey in IRON MAN 2 was a hot topic last week, Howard reveals it was all quite sudden:
It was the surprise of a lifetime [finding out that Cheadle has taken over the role]. There was no explanation. I read something in the trades that implicated it was about money or something but apparently the contracts that we write and sign aren’t worth the paper that they’re printed on. And promises aren’t kept.
The quote is courtesy of Graeme at io9, who analyzes it a bit more.
Meanwhile, the potential Flash movie is slowing down. Ha! You knew we’d say that, didn’t you?
ShockTillYouDrop.com caught up with The Dark Knight producer Charles Roven at the 2008 Scream Awards and asked him if The Flash was moving forward at Warner Bros., but it doesn’t look like anything is happening:
Roven also told us that there is “no momentum” on comic book adaptation The Flash at Warner Bros. Pictures.
§ In the LA Times Claudia Eller reports on the career of Marvel Studios Chairman David Maisel:
Big break: After seeing a photo of Creative Artists Agency head Michael Ovitz on the cover of Business Week in 1994, Maisel wrote the uber-agent a cold-call letter asking for an interview. He was flown out to Los Angeles and put up at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where he recalls buying a watch in the lobby to wear at the interview. After he showed up for the interview, he was made to wait all day, only to be told, “It ain’t going to happen, come back tomorrow.” He landed the job working with the agency’s corporate clients, and on his first day Ovitz told him he wanted help on a top-secret project. Ovitz, who four years earlier had helped engineer Japan’s Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.’s acquisition of Universal Studios parent MCA Inc., was now being asked to analyze the performance of the studio and its potential sale. “I couldn’t tell anyone what I was working on,” Maisel said. “It was a very cool experience to be in that world so quickly.”
§ The NY Times presents a thoughtful analysis of whether mainly white audiences will accept movies about non–white people. There’s some talk of superhero movies, and a few interesting tidbits we were previously unaware of from Fantasyland news:
Perhaps the ultimate indication that the color barrier is breaking down in Hollywood is the Walt Disney Company’s decision to introduce an African-American princess — its first — to sit beside Snow White and Cinderella. The animated character, Tiana, will arrive next year via “The Princess and the Frog,” a musical set in 1920s New Orleans.
You know when Sci Fi channel once had the rerun rights to the Flash TV Series – I was always hoping that there would be a Labor Day or Fourth of July Flash Marathon somewhere along the line – but, I guess, it was not to be.
~
Coat
The irony of Howard complaining about people not living up to the terms of contracts is overwhelming, considering his inability to perform his eight contractual appearances per week in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”
And his CD sounds terrible.
Good riddance.