Samuel L. Jackson has confirmed to IGN that the recession has hit Marvel Films hard and that they can no longer afford him to pay him to make cameo’s in IRON MAN 2, CAPTAIN AMERICA, THE AVENGERS etc.
You can see him make the announcement in a video over at Worst Previews, which you can find HERE.
Marvel, remember, already dropped Terrence Howard from IRON MAN 2 because of his outlandish wages and swapped with Don Cheadle who was willing to work cheaper. From what we’ve been hearing also, Mickey Rourke is taking on a much decreased wage packet to play Crymson Dynamo in the sequel in the hope that the added exposure to his Oscar nominated turn in THE WRESTLER will see him right for a lot more roles in the next 10 years.
Or maybe it’s just that he has seen the future and the days of the big wage packets are truly gone. Maybe Samuel L. Jackson is still living in a dream world. And well let’s be honest, has he really been worth the money studio’s have thrown at him over the past five years? Does his name really mean anything to a project these days?
I can’t help but think Jackson is being short sighted here. He should be taking a massive pay cut for a few days “work” (it’s hardly work the scenes he has been involved in) with the hope that the building of his character will eventually lead to a nice payday in a NICK FURY movie somewhere down the road.
Will you miss Big Sam from the Marvel canon? I won’t… I can easy forget a very brief cameo from the end of the credits of IRON MAN. Personally, I’m hoping they keep Clark Gregg, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who harassed Tony Stark in the original. I would rather see more of him.
9 Comments
you can’t help but think that, despite the ridiculous amounts of money that actors demand for appearances these days, it is really MARVEL that have messed things up here.
2 films in and they have already decided to re-cast 2 roles? it’s all a bit patch-work for my liking. they obviously have no regard for continuity. the samuel l. jackson role might not seem like a big deal to most given that a) he was in IRON MAN for less than a minute and b) most people missed it anyway. but now they just look silly for having it in there at all. of course they aren’t clairvoyants and could not have predicted what was to come with regard to the global economy but given all of the ‘hype’ about nick fury’s cameo’s and the synergy of all MARVEL PRODUCTION’S films they have really shot themselves in the foot.
financially, things surely don’t look that good for the company?!
I think it would have been nice for the continuity if they had kept Jackson but hey, most people didnt even see that cameo anyway,who the fuck watches a film right till the end of the credits anyway?….cept us nerds.
Why not just black up Downey Jr. again! two roles for the price of one. done deal. but seriously, Mr Jackson just isn’t that awesome anymore. who gives a crap?
Jackson was lame in Star Wars although he wasn’t given much to do. The only thing that bothers me is if you start down the path with somebody, finish it. That being said, this is all posturing, Jackson will be there.
I’m surprised to hear Rourke is working for cheap. Isn’t the whole reason you do the little independents is so that you can be in position to take a huge studio job to pad your pockets? There is more to this story.
The problem with putting Jackson in the Nick Fury role is that he carries the burden of all his previous film credits with him. I had a hard enough time watching him as Mace in the Star Wars films without thinking that Jules from Pulp Fiction was going to break out with a slew of F-Bombs!
Don’t get me wrong, I am huge Jackson fan, and some of his roles have been iconic, but Nick Fury needs to be developed around a great actor with a little less screen baggage than Samuel “I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!” L. Jackson.
I won’t miss him.
Boo hoo. It shows what kind of people a lot of these actors are. They can’t take pay cuts to do something they supposedly “love.” I mean for f**ks sake Marvel modeled the character after him. (A friend of mine told me it was some kind of birthday present). He says he’d love to do it, then why can’t he negotiate. He soiled his name by being in something like The Spirit. Why wouldn’t he want to bring his name back up by taking a pay cut so he could be in something like Iron Man. Because we all know that sequel is going to make truckloads.
Well, I’m not sure if I should give my opinion … everytime I say something bad about Jackson, I get called a racist.
But I’m glad he’s gone.
Matt, you’re simply wrong. Marvel is being short sighted here –period. Put your massive dislike of Jackson aside and see what’s really going on. Marvel alone is to blame. First they nearly dump Favreau because they don’t want to pay him. Then they dump Howard on the same grounds. Now this?
They’re guaranteed a record-breaking weekend for IM2. Jackson’s salary would hardly have killed them. 10-15 million for a movie guaranteed to make 300mil in the US alone, maybe 700 mil worldwide? Do you really have to think about that one?
Marvel made this same mistake in the 90’s when they utterly dominated the industry and DC comics had to do publicity-stunts masquerading as storylines, (like killing Superman, breaking Batman’s back) just to get some sales. It was at this point that Marvel decided all of a sudden they “couldn’t afford the salary” of their star talent. That became their answer for EVERYTHING! Swimming in cash, but there’s never any money to pay people. Well a year later Image Comics got started, and it’s success prompted every comic book creator to demand ownership of the properties they created …
…And Marvel filed for bankruptcy only five years later. History, it would seem, may be poised to repeat itself. And all because they want everyone to work for peanuts.