Not letting your ego get the best of you can result in wonderful things
Deadline, March 2009
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.
Vanity Fair, May 2014
It was no shocker that Johansson nabbed the part of Black Widow in 2010’s “Iron Man 2” as she executed a stellar campaign to prove why she was made for the role. She even dyed her hair red for her second meeting with director Jon Favreau (unusual for a big star). It apparently worked as she got the part that launched her into a long-term relationship with Marvel, appearing in the “Avengers” franchise for several years and now the “Captain America” sequel.
"If you want something, you have to go for it," she told the mag.
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