Robert Downey Jr. has broken his silence about Terrence Howard being replaced on “Iron Man 2” by Marvel studios. MTV’s Splashpage got the scoop, but truthfully, there’s not a lot there, RDJ doesn’t seem to know why it happened, he says he still “loves” Howard and he’s also not about to compare Don Cheadle (the new replacement) to Howard or throw anyone under the bus.
“I think the important thing with the ‘Iron Man’ franchise is to not do too much too soon and to make sure we don’t piss off the public that put us in the position we’re in. We’ve just got to keep rolling up our sleeves higher and further up the elbow. If we show up and we’re in the right head space and our heart’s in the right spot and we really think about the audience at every turn and we don’t try to stamp our hipness onto anything. It’s very interactive.”
Asked if he had anything to do with the decision, Downey Jr. is quick to respond. “I had nothing to do with that decision. I love Terrence very very much. That’s all I’ll say because I haven’t talked to him yet.” He won’t play favorites either and won’t speak out of turn for fear of sticking his foot in his mouth. Smart.
“I’ve always admired Don [Cheadle]. It’s one of those situations where I still don’t quite know what happened or why. Here’s what happens too: things happen and you wind up commenting on them before you’ve actually talked to the people and it’s in poor taste.”Even if the reasons do become clear to RDJ and Jon Favreau (if they aren’t already to the director), it seems doubtful that they’ll talk about it at length, especially Favreau who allegedly wasn’t happy with Howard’s performance according to Entertainment Weekly.
