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I’ve already posted my scoop that Mickey Rourke will play the Russian villain in Iron Man 2 in a Marvel Studios deal that started out lowball and went up a lot. Now I’m told that Emily Blunt won’t be in the sequel and Black Widow will now be played by Scarlett Johannson. (Interesting because Scarlett actually screen-tested for the role and didn’t get it.) But I hear that, unlike Mickey’s money, the deal for her is “just the opposite, a terrible deal made by CAA,” one of my insiders says. “It’s as bad as any deal that I’ve heard. It’s lowball money. And it ties her to countless movies, including that ensemble The Avengers, which is what makes this brutal for a lot of actors.” As for Blunt, I’m told she fell out not by choice but only because Fox exercised an option that the studio had from The Devil Wears Prada to make her do the upcoming film starring Jack Black, Gullivers Travels.
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Johannson is NOT right for this role. Way too wooden.
That’s a bad signing.
chuck
I don’t know why Scarlett keeps going for these big budget movies when it’s clear they do nothing for her. She has so much more success in smaller films like Match Point, Lost in Translation, Bobby Long, Ghost World, Pearl earring, etc…what is she thinking?
Sucks for Iron Man. Scarlett’s the kiss of death. Emily’s a cutie!
I love Scarlett. I hope she takes good advantage of the role
Why couldn’t they hire an actual eastern European to play the part like Olga Kuryelenko.
I’m not too sure about Scarlett. She’s done good work in “Match Point” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” but in everything else she’s been she hasn’t impressed me. Maybe she’ll do fine in IM-2, but who knows.
Marvel should’ve thrown a ton of money at Emily Blunt for the role, or someone who can play femme fatales well like Stephanie Romanov (she even has that European last name) or Eva Green.
And I don’t see why people are complaining that Johannsen got a low sum, won’t she get a steadily-increasing paycheck for each IM sequel and Marvel spin-off she does? Marvel can’t give every star their asking price, they have to cut corners somewhere. (And at least they’re not offering an absurd deal like Jack Nicholson snagged when he agreed to do Tim Burton’s “Batman.”)
SJ is the most overrated actress in Hollywood and box office poison on her own no matter what rag cover she’s on. She needs this. She probably could have paid Marvel to be in the movie. But Blunt would have been a ten times better choice.
I was happy as a lark over the news of Mickey Rourke’s casting, but then this report killed my buzz (and then repeatedlykicked its dead corpse for good measure).
The casting has been amazing and Johannson just doesn’t fit. She’s going to look ridiculous next to everyone else.
I think it stings more because they actually had Emily Blunt before FOX exercised her contract option.
Soooo close to casting perfection.
you know who else seemed ridiculous at time of casting? michael keaton for batman. it’s a mindless movie. she’s not the main character. she’s established as an actress. this is a movie you do for fun. not seeing the big deal.
Johansson works too much. Then again, she’s probably being told by her agent that the roles will dry up once her tits start to sag. She’s also not worth the big bucks as evidenced by the box office of her films. The Spirit anyone? She ought to be grateful she’s still getting work at this point.
Not for nothing but SJ should be thanking the stars to land a roll like this. She has been the queen of either indie or crappy rom-com movies for as long as I can remember. Her name is big, tabloid-wise. But she certainly hasn’t established herself as someone capable of putting butts in seats.
Frankly, I don’t think much of her acting skills and think her range is limited at best. The Island anyone? A movie like this certainly can’t hurt her box office appeal. Let’s just hope it doesn’t damage the movie.
Agreed that it should have been an eastern european.
Romanov is way too old. they should have considered an up-and-comer like Dominika Wolski
Scarlett Johannsen will be about as good in this as Mila Kunis was in Max Payne.
wow this is shaping up to be awful – this just seems like it’s becoming like every other bad super hero movie – the opposite of what first iron man was
Oy, vey. ScarJo is NOT the Black Widow (neither of them) in personality, much less body type — with BW never being the va-va-voom type in the first place. If they want to cast her an an Iron Man movie, then they should be casting her towards a character that she’d be semi-appropriate to play — if someone sends her to a Miyagi-level-genius acting coach — and that would be the villainess Viper.
Short of that, this is the worst bit of comics casting news since the very WASPy Jennifer Garner was cast as the very extremely Greek Elektra in Daredevil.
You don’t cast a person in an inappropriate role just because (us) comics geeks — oh, hell, most heterosexual male movie fans — want to see her naked.
OTOH, in today’s economic climate I can’t blame her for taking a multi-pic deal for what is becoming a huge franchise. She should just be holding out for a more appropriate role, whether it’s Viper or someone else in the Marvel Universe with large breasts and a whispery voice. Lord knows that even the staff at Marvel Comics itself are so up on ScarJo that if somebody really pressed Favreau, they could match her up with a character rather than miscast her just because they have her.
FWIW, my vote for the Black Widow would be Connie Britton — during hiatus between seasons of Friday Night Lights, of course. (Or Lauren Graham on Ritalin, BID.) The Black Widow is supposed to be a contemporary of Iron Man’s — not young enough to be Tony’s t(w)eenage daughter.
And finally, before someone brings up Michael Keaton as Batman in defense of ScarJo: 1) Michael Keaton can act, 2) Michael Keaton can act, 3) Michael Keaton can act (even though he only ever seems to luck into good scripts once a decade or so) and 4) Michael Keaton can act.
— Rob
Dude, the black widow actually IS a va va voom character. Since her intro in the OLD OLD black and white iron man books. Hence the whole “black widow” name thingy.
Why don’t we wait and see the film first. Scarlett, yes, is known for being an independent film actress with supporting roles in bigger films. Of course she isn’t going to be getting paid millions and millions! I would hardly call what actors make ‘lousy’.
Scarlett in a comic book movie. Perfect.
Acting ability of a two-dimensional personality, generally.
And a pneumatic, male-centric figure that will look good in Black Widow’s black skintight leather outfit.
Nor should she be well remunerated. SJ is repeatedly presented to us as a leading actress and I have to beg to differ. There is no substance there and if, after all this time and all these chances, they can’t even edit her into shape it’s time to move on (her callow quality was absolutely right for VCB. Credit due.)
EB however, is anything BUT dull, I hope Fox don’t waste her on pap.
I think Scarlett is one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood today. She actually has a human form body with some shape to it.
The haters. Stop messing with the cutie with a booty. First lets deal with reality her films according to box office data have grossed over 1 billion dollars. Her largest gross was for the island. A film I liked because it was shot in Detroit (partially). She is not box office poison. Further she’s part of the tribe and looks like Marilyn Monroe. She will be good at this role. As for the low ball. I’m sure her agent/lawyer got a 360 deal and she would make more money off the back end , dolls, costumes, DVD sales etc (no pun intended)
Fox can’t “make” Emily do a particular movie, even if they have an option(s) for one or more.
Maybe she’d like to make a movie that makes over $100 million domestically.
But the “box office poison” or “she’s lucky to be getting work” assertions are absurd. $91 million total for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and $130 million total on “He’s Just Not that Into You” are good successes.
But she’s done about 30 movies, and never had a blockbuster or one that made over $100 million. If she wants to become one of the $15-20 million a movie folks, presumably she need some mega-hits, not just “yeah, that did pretty good, for that type of movie.”
I heard that if U do IM2, U get the fabulous “I did Iron Man 2 and got this lousy T-shirt” T-shirt.
Scarlett is adorable. And she’s young. Nothing wrong with Emily. VEry pretty girl. I’mnot that into these kinds of films, but acting is acting. It’s a COMIC BOOK to FILM thing. Goodness. So many of you arm chair quarterbacks are acting as though they’re remaking Gone With the Wind. Lighten the hell up. Both girls have chops and either would be fine in such a role. It’s just that Scarlett’s got the role. Something great will come along for Emily as well.
JoshA, “He’s Just Not That Into You” is a movie base on a popular book with an assembled cast, and SJ is definitely not the lead actress in that movie.You really can’t count that as one of her successes.
Wow. A lot of very important commentary on the movie business here.
Let’s not talk about the fact that a major talent agency might have just screwed one of their well known/name clients out of a better payday. And in which case, why?
Or that Marvel’s film franchises might be asking too much of actors.
Or why a studio, Fox, is asking an actress–whose biggest exposure to date might be Iron Man 2–to give it up in order to perform under a contract that seems to tie her to something completed unrelated to the movie for which she was contracted.
And whatever happened to the courtesy that used to be shown among studios in not screwing over actors like that?
Or how about simply noting the rather interesting fact that Marvel is being very aggressive about its slate.
No, instead let’s all talk about Scarlett Johannson’s *add inane remark here*.
Might as well have been reading comments to a post on US Weekly’s website. Yeah. The industry is quaking in its boots for when YOU GUYS finally come in and set this town straight on what “the biz” is all about.