[kevin]

I didn't know about Routh. But I'm very surprised if he got as much as that as an unknown with no Hollywood track record.

[Captain Frank]

The jerk with the biggest ego.

[AyanEva]

Originally Posted by cjopbj

That sounds like a lot but it has to stretch from project to project and cover all the other costs that an employer would normally cover like health insurance, etc. Plus, living in California is very expensive.

If I were them I'd as for a percentage of the gross.

Ooh, good point. Hadn't considered that. I live in Philly, which is pretty affordable, so I forget how expensive it is over there.

[AyanEva]

Originally Posted by Captain Frank

The jerk with the biggest ego.

lol So far all of them seem really down to Earth. I hope that doesn't change. In particular, I've gotten a kick out of just how funny and normal Chris Pine is in all of the interviews. He seems like a chill guy that you'd want to go hang with after work or something.

[Captain Frank]

AyanEva wrote:

lol So far all of them seem really down to Earth. I hope that doesn't change. In particular, I've gotten a kick out of just how funny and normal Chris Pine is in all of the interviews. He seems like a chill guy that you'd want to go hang with after work or something.

Well, that's good.

[AyanEva]

Originally Posted by Captain Frank

AyanEva wrote:
Well, that's good.

He was talking about how chill the Australian red carpet was and how he wanted to hang outside with the fans and have a bbq and some beers.

[MissionTrek08]

Originally Posted by Samuel

At the time Downey was not an A-list star so he didnt rate a huge salary. Of course this movie helped his career along quite well (among a couple other movies). Howards contention (read it on CNN I think) was that Downey was the only one who was basically given a raise of sorts due to the success of the movie in the next contract. My specifics might be off but thats the gist of it. Howard and the studios never came to an agreement so they hired Don Chedle (sp?) for the part.

I'm surprised to hear that Downey, a twice Oscar-nominated actor, would be considered a 'smaller' star than Terrence Howard, since RDJ's career as a lead actor is substantially longer and more notable. Also, he was cast to star in IRON MAN, whatever alphabet list one puts him on. His name was above Howard's in the credits and his was the lead role by far. He got more money than anyone, either in salary or combined with percentage.

Originally Posted by kevin

I believe I read it in a UK paper edition of either Total Film or Empire magazine a few months back. It was around the time Don Cheadle was announced as his replacement. I believe salary negotiations were the sticking point of Howard.

I can only surmise that as he was higher paid to start with, his increase for the sequel wouldn't have been a substantial as Downey Jnr's (I don't even know what Paltrow was on anyway).

Nor should Howard have gotten as much money as Downey. Downey's the star, the title character, and likely the largest role in the film or its sequel. He's also the box office draw for audiences.

I think it's possible - Howard had been a recent Oscar nominee (that always raises your price for a while afterwards even if you don't win) and Downey Jnr hadn't had a huge financial hit in years (though the likes of Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang had put him on the comeback trail). Putting him up as the headliner of Iron Man was a relative gamble and he probably wasn't in a position to negotiate a huge salary.

Downey had already been nominated twice before IRON MAN as a lead actor, so that puts him one ahead of Howard in terms of award leverage. And it's not all about box office performance (match RDJ's lifetime take to TH for comparison) -- Downey already had solid reviews from GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK and ZODIAC on his 'comeback' trail.

As far as I know, it came down to Howard not being happy at the salary offered to him.

No doubt about that, it happens. TREK has its own examples of that, as we know. But I see no way Howard was getting more money than Downey in the IRON MAN franchise.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by MissionTrek08

I'm surprised to hear that Downey, a twice Oscar-nominated actor, would be considered a 'smaller' star than Terrence Howard, since RDJ's career as a lead actor is substantially longer and more notable. Also, he was cast to star in IRON MAN, whatever alphabet list one puts him on. His name was above Howard's in the credits and his was the lead role by far. He got more money than anyone, either in salary or combined with percentage.



Nor should Howard have gotten as much money as Downey. Downey's the star, the title character, and likely the largest role in the film or its sequel. He's also the box office draw for audiences.

Downey had already been nominated twice before IRON MAN as a lead actor, so that puts him one ahead of Howard in terms of award leverage. And it's not all about box office performance (match RDJ's lifetime take to TH for comparison) -- Downey already had solid reviews from GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK and ZODIAC on his 'comeback' trail.

No doubt about that, it happens. TREK has its own examples of that, as we know. But I see no way Howard was getting more money than Downey in the IRON MAN franchise.

Well, his second nomination ( in 2009 for Tropic Thunder) actually came after Iron Man, and his first (in 1993 for Chaplin) was way back. And while he earned critical kudos for those films (Zodiac etc) they were not financial hits. RDJ has never been a box office draw on his own name - a respected actor, yes, but not a guarantee of a hit. Hence the surprise when he was announced in the first place.

If he had just had three $100 million hits his price would be up, but he hadn't had that scale hit for a very long time, if ever (not sure, need to check his resume), therefore his price would have dropped.

Certainly for the sequel I imagine he has either a greater initial salary or a percentage cut.

I'm only recalling what I read at the time. Certainly if I can find more on the question I'll share it. But, for the first one at least, I find it in theory possible.

Quick add-on - the Wiki entry for Iron Man 2 makes mention of the fact Howard was the highest paid and the article in EW the reference comes from.

[horatio]

Originally Posted by Captain Frank

The jerk with the biggest ego.

I fail to see why someone who drives a hard bargain in a wage negotiation is supposed to be an egomaniac jerk.

[MissionTrek08]

Originally Posted by kevin

Well, his second nomination ( in 2009 for Tropic Thunder) actually came after Iron Man, and his first (in 1993 for Chaplin) was way back. And while he earned critical kudos for those films (Zodiac etc) they were not financial hits. RDJ has never been a box office draw on his own name - a respected actor, yes, but not a guarantee of a hit. Hence the surprise when he was announced in the first place.

If he had just had three $100 million hits his price would be up, but he hadn't had that scale hit for a very long time, if ever (not sure, need to check his resume), therefore his price would have dropped.

I can agree with all that, but to make your point, you're saying Terrence Howard has somehow surpassed Downey's take at box offices, which I don't see happening when comparing their resumes.

He's a fine actor, don't get me wrong. But he certainly hasn't enjoyed the number of lead performances in higher profile films than Downey. In power brokerage terms, Downey's had a longer, more sustained leading man career, at least relatively speaking.

Was Howard right to turn down the sequel money? It depends on what they offered him, and the size of his role in the new film. I thought Howard did well in IRON MAN, and Cheadle will be an interesting actor to step into the role. We'll certainly see much from Howard in the future, IRON MAN or not.

BTW: I must add, if Howard's dispute is over Marvel not giving him more money for the sequel, I cannot blame him for being upset. I don't know what his first contract terms were or how much of a bump was built into his sequel salary, but Marvel probably would have been wiser to reward Paltrow and Howard to some degree above and beyond, given what IRON MAN made for them.