Terrence Howard recently revealed that he believes a threat he made toward Joel Silver during a past film project may have led to his exit from the Iron Man franchise.
Speaking on the Thursday (March 5) episode of PBD Podcast, the Empire star looked back on a tense exchange he had with the producer while promoting his 2007 film, The Brave One. The movie featured Howard alongside Jodie Foster, a young Zoë Kravitz, and others.
During the film’s promotional run at the Venice Film Festival, a reporter asked Howard why his name on the poster wasn’t placed alongside Foster’s. The question sparked a heated conversation between him and Silver.
“So, I started making calls as if that was my right, and it wasn’t. And then Joel Silver came and and had a conversation with me. He’s like, ‘The reason your name isn’t above the titles is because you’re not the star of this thing. It’s Jodie,'” Howard recalled Silver telling him (around the 1:21:00 mark in the clip below).
“‘And if you win, if you get nominated for an Oscar, it’s going to be for supporting actor. It’s not going to be for best actor.'” Howard said he responded firmly, telling Silver, “‘Okay, thank you for telling me that. Now I understand. But you have to remember I’m a man just like you. And if you ever talk to me in that way again, I’mma knock your teeth out your mouth.'”
Howard also noted that Joel Silver’s producing partner on The Brave One was Susan Downey, who later served as an executive producer on 2010’s Iron Man 2.
“Then maybe eight months later, I lose Iron Man,” he said. “And I’m sure that all of those things played their part.”
Howard originally played James Rhodes in the first Iron Man before being replaced by Don Cheadle in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the time, many believed Howard’s exit from the film series stemmed from a pay dispute.
Elsewhere in the PBD Podcast conversation, Howard revealed that two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington once gave him blunt advice about his career, warning him that he was “blowing” his acting opportunities.
“I had a meeting with Denzel once, and he told me, ‘Look at your hands, man. You’re always like this. Your fist all baldled up,'” Howard recalled. “He told me, ‘And all these producers want to do is they try to open your hand and so they can put money in it, but you won’t do it. You keep your hands all tight like this and you’re blowing it.'”
