2011 was a great year for Oscar-winning actress, Jessica Chastain. In just one year, she was a part of six movies including, The Tree of Life and The Help. And thus, it was inevitable that studios would be grabbing at any opportunity they could find to hire Jessica Chastain for their projects and Marvel Studios was one of them.
Jessica Chastain could have almost been in Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man 3. Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts proved to be a barrier between the actress and the film and she had to bid farewell to the role. Jessica Chastain took to Facebook to announce her detachment from Iron Man 3, apologizing and stating that the press should not have announced her possible announcement this early.
Jessica Chastain Refused Iron Man 3
According to ScreenRant, the role Jessica Chastain was up for was described as a “s*xy” and “smart” scientist. The role was none other than that of Maya Hansen, the scientist behind the technology for Extremis in the comic books. Clearly, it’s a very important character! Despite the fact that Chastain would have killed it as Maya, scheduling conflicts forced her to down the opportunity.
She wrote on her Facebook page,
“Sorry to say that Iron Man 3 isn’t going to work out. My schedule is jammed packed and I can’t fit anything else in. The press announced my possible attachment far too soon. I know many of you wanted me to be involved, and I’m so sorry to disappoint you. Hopefully there’ll be another Marvel film in my future. Shane Black and everyone on the IM3 team are really wonderful. I’m very excited to see the film when it comes out. xx”
It looks like Chastain was very interested in starring alongside Robert Downey Jr. Alas! The stars were just not aligned. The role eventually went to Rebecca Hall.
Although fans loved her as Maya, they were deeply disappointed with how Marvel Studios reduced a promising villain. Hall, too, expressed her disappointment with how her character was treated.
As for Chastain, Iron Man 3 wasn’t the only film she turned down.
Jessica Chastain Turned Down Tom Cruise Twice
Chastain played the role of Maya in the critically acclaimed film, Zero Dark Thirty (2012). However, she almost had to say goodbye to the project until Tom Cruise swooped in to help her out. At the time, Chastain was under contract for the 2013 film, Oblivion. And since she did not have the power to get out of the contract, Cruise was nice enough to offer his help.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Chastain stated,
“Someone contacted him from my agency and said, ‘Listen, she wants to work with you. And she would love to, but there is this other film and it’s so important.’ And with his support, I was able to do this movie. He’s a pretty incredible human.”
That he is. Chastain also refused to work with Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation when she was offered to play Lisa Faust. According to sources, the extreme physical and mental strain was not the actress’ cup of tea.
You can stream Iron Man 3 on Disney+ and Zero Dark Thirty is available to rent/buy on Prime Video.
Source: Facebook | Jessica Chastain
