Studios are offering last year’s Oscar-nominated breakthrough star Jessica Chastain roles left and right, but she can’t sign on for everything that comes her way. She had been negotiating to star in next summer's Iron Man 3, but she recently pulled out, pointing to her crammed schedule as the reason for departure.
With that role empty, to whom do Marvel and Disney turn now? Gemma Arterton (Clash of the Titans), Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds), and Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers) were earlier approached for Chastain’s role, but Rebecca Hall is currently negotiating to step into the part. If negotiations go as planned this time around, Variety reports that the Golden Globe-nominated star of The Town and Vicky Cristina Barcelona will star opposite Robert Downey Jr. as a sexy “scientist who plays a pivotal role in the creation of a nanotechnology, known as Extremis, that winds up being sold to terrorists.”
Since Iron Man 3 begins shooting in North Carolina (politics aside) before the end of the month, it’s imperative that the film nabs someone for this important part very soon. At the moment, Hall is filming a thriller alongside Eric Bana, but later this year she’ll be seen with Bruce Willis in Lay the Favorite, a film picked up by The Weinstein Company at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
Iron Man 3 is being directed by Shane Black, who worked with RDJ on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Don Cheadle and Gwyneth Paltrow reprise their roles as Rhodey and Pepper, respectively, while newcomers Sir Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce have signed on to play characters new to Marvel’s movie universe.
Iron Man 3 will film in North Carolina as well as China, who will fund a significant portion of the film with Marvel. Iron Man 3 is set to hit theaters on May 3, 2013.
